Hidden Beneath
by darkskysong
Summary: While gathering information on Sasuke in Rice Field Country, Naruto's mission is interrupted. Though disguised as a fox, nothing could have really prepared him for the outcome of this encounter. WIP, SasuNaruSasu, Shounen-ai
1. On the Mission

This is my first fic in the Naruto fandom. I have every intention of finishing even though there may be long periods between updates.

**Long Summary**: Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi have been sent on a mission into the Sound Country for reconnaissance on the Sound-nin. It's been three years since Naruto and Sasuke fought in the Valley of the End but Konoha hasn't received any information on the youngest missing Uchiha in all that time. May be they will dig up a scrap of information that could possibly help Naruto bring Sasuke back before Orochimaru takes his body.

**Warnings**: Mild language. Possible manga spoilers will be noted on chapter, read on at your own discretion.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognised from Naruto, just every thing else from my brain and the plot.

Okay, I'm done holding you up. R&R!

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**Chapter 1 (On the Mission)**

Drops of crystal liquid cascaded along the edges of the wide foliage to splash into the damp dirt underneath the low bushes. Any pollutants that had saturated the air washed away in the sudden downpour. The urgent scurrying noises of the forest creatures had ceased. Either they had found shelter out of rain or had been caught in the annoying wet weather. The storm clouds calmed a few minutes later, leaving the world to enjoy the quiet aftermath. Only the gentle sounds of the dripping water echoed in the small glen now.

A black nose sniffed the clean air, taking welcome pleasure in the rich earthy scents invading the nostrils. Once again, the change in weather had altered the atmosphere inside the forest to an eerie, otherworldly quality; as if it wasn't already creepy enough in the fading twilight before the rains blew in.

He heaved an inaudible sigh, carefully placing his head over his crossed paws. Waiting had never been his strong suit, and no amount of training could drill patience into him. He let his senses rove around the immediate area, reaching out and testing the vicinity for chakra. Nothing untoward sparked his interest so he settled down, resigned to wait for his companion.

A drop of rain transpired to splatter the tip of his black tipped ear. He let a soft growl escape his lips, which sounded uncannily like a cursing grumble. With a flick of the right ear, he turned and curled into a more comfortable position, muzzle tucked under a bushy, black-flecked orange tail. Sleep came naturally to the creature as the muted chatter of the cleaned woodland became lulling in the peacefulness.

He suddenly returned to blistering consciousness. His head lifted and stared around the undergrowth alert, ears pricked. The tone of the environment had shifted slightly during his little snooze. He mentally kicked himself; this was no time to let his senses go to sleep with him. He had eventually picked up the knack to sleep lightly but this happened to be one of the times where his accumulated tiredness overwhelmed every thing else. A thick rustle of limp leaves captured his dark eyes and he sniffed delicately at the cool air. He blinked as he recognised the scent, returning his head to his paws as taut muscles relaxed throughout his lithe body.

Grey fur flashed from between the green foliage, honing in on where the creature lay in his shelter. Padded feet landed soundlessly next the body of orange fur, churning the earth into mud with the water sluicing from the matted greyness. The dog shook vigorously and sent droplets flying in all directions, effectively dampening the dry refuge and then sat down heavily on his rump. The drowsy fox growled and glared daggers at the newcomer, swearing that the grey dog had messed up his nice dry fur on purpose. The canine just cocked his head and stared back nonchalantly.

Man, he hated it when the dog did that. That particular expression had frustrated him no end over the years he had know the silver haired ninja. It was a long standing wish of the fox's that Kakashi-sensei would act petulant for just once in his lifetime. He pushed his wondering thoughts back on track and the mission at hand. The older jounin had made him stay put in this particular spot while he scouted around the area for any signs of human life. The senses of the fox were stronger than that of the dog's, but stealth in the turning weather required the canine's neutral coat rather than the reddish orange pelt.

Naruto's nose twitched as it noticed a muddy burnt smell coming from the paw closest to his head. Navy orbs eyed the black ash - recently from a campfire by the faint meaty smell - which remained clinging to the foot despite running through the wet undergrowth. He gazed quizzically at the dog, who moved his head side to side in answer. So then, the camp wasn't one they were looking for. The fox just nodded and turned to sleeping properly, they wouldn't head out again until later that night and he planned to rest. A breeze stalking the ground didn't help him any, making his skin shiver beneath the damp fur so Naruto determinedly ignored all outward sensations and retreated into his mind.

Hatake Kakashi watched the teenaged fox settle in to sleep. This was a hard mission by any standards and he wondered whether he should have chosen another shinobi as a partner. He pushed his doubts off to the side and followed the boy's lead, stretching out in their temporary little sanctuary, safe for the moment. A soft patter of light drizzle echoed above their heads, heralding another short shower. The black eyed canine rolled over and shifted so the pair could share body warmth while they slept then promptly became unconscious.

_Blood pooled around their cooling corpses, the once warm liquid congealing where it lay splattered on the paved road. Surprise had been written all over their faces before he had cut their throats, quick and clean but still cruel. Not a single person had the chance to utter a noise before he had dispatched them into death, not a single one. It wasn't as if he could hear anything besides the frantic beating of his own heart but that may have been a blessing. He wasn't certain he wanted to have another dimension to his view of the final hour of the illustrious Uchiha with that sense as well. _

_A dark haired boy - barely old enough for ninja training - raced through the desecrated streets, desperately trying to stay calm but failing as his young mind baulked at comprehending such a brutal attack. The reek and iron tang of spilt blood forced its way into his nose and mouth, his first experience of many deaths clawed its mark on his memory forever. The psychotic massacre would drastically alter the child's simple opinion of life, tainting his every action from that day forward. _

_His house was as oppressively silent as the streets outside had been. _

"_Tousan!"_

_There was no response. He called again, panic and fear lacing his tiny voice. _

"_Kaasan!"_

_He ran towards the last room not searched at the complex. The boy slipped on the wooden boards and almost crashed to the floor, instinct correcting for the movement and he sprinted on. _

_No one had been spared, not mother, not father, no one but him. Him - unimportant and weak; now he was spiteful and hateful, yet still the weak, foolish little brother. The emptiness gleefully swallowed him from the inside out as omnipresent darkness dogged his broken and scared soul. _

_The dark haired teen slid to the wooden floor inside the old home, legs unable to hold his shaking weight as the shock of his parents' murder once again seeped into a numb brain. He stared through his bangs at the lifeless bodies but the two Uchihas were now accompanied by three more, thrown haphazardly in the centre of the room. The corpses were gruesomely slumped in an ever widening pool of mixed blood still seeping from their sliced wrists and throats. The sticky substance dried strands of the girl's pink coloured hair into rat tails and soaked through the mask of a silver maned man. Their faces were only slightly obscured by hair, limbs and blood but he was blind to their blurry features. _

_An invisible kunai jabbed him in the heart as obsidian eyes spied the boy with a blonde mop of hair. 'Not him too' a child's voice sobbed unabashedly in his thoughts. But like his parents and his clan, the other boy was unmistakably dead. The once lively blue eyes stared blankly back into his own dark ones, the once proud smile wiped from the boy's lips by the agony of the death dealt to him. _

_The smell gagged him. The sight sickened him. The murder shredded his already shaky mentality. He screamed._

The fox felt a heavy paw swat at his side, pulling him into conscious thought. Eyes blearily stared up at the canine face, noting with remarkable clarity that the dark grey mask of fur over one side of Kakashi's head had deepened. Naruto dismissed the random observation for the moment and uncurled from his sleeping position to stretch the kinks out of his lithe body then shook. His orange pelt had dried into stiff spikes but that didn't worry him too much, at least now his coat was going to keep the loud mouthed ninja warm rather than cold. His nostrils flared, testing the air. The rains had finished their erratic annoyance for the night and had moved onto the next country. Night had truly fallen on the foreign forest but his sensitive eyes were able to pick out individual leaves across from their refuge.

Now that Naruto was awake, Kakashi turned with a flick of his tail and skulked through the undergrowth, leading the way as usual. The teenaged chuunin quickly followed the retreating grey splodge, cautious not crush the foliage outside of the shelter opening and reveal to anyone looking that it had been used. A good rule of tracking and infiltration was to be untraceable. Naruto let his thoughts wander a little as he carefully stepped in the canine's bigger tracks.

They had been in these unnamed forests for several days now and had almost crossed paths with a few humans yet managed to remain undetected. Tsunade, the fifth Hokage had given the mission a B rank; reconnaissance of information concerning the Sound ninjas' activities. Jiraiya-sensei hadn't been able to bring in as much information as he would have liked on the more elusive ones and so Kakashi and Naruto had been dispatched with their mission.

The red-orange creature was brought out of his reverie as his head bumped into Kakashi's hard side. The jounin had stopped before breaking the foliage surrounding a glade with his ears pricked forward. Naruto flicked his ears and concentrated on the sounds of the area, wondering what his companion found interesting. There were the normal noises of the nocturnal foragers all around, yet off to the left was a faint trickling sound, almost indistinguishable from the water slicked plants except for its steadiness.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip _

The fox advanced towards the sound and Kakashi let him investigate first, a step behind him.

_Drip. Drip. Drip _

The source of the constant trickling materialized as a crack in a rock that fed a pond in the middle of another dell. His chakra told him no one was about besides the two Konoha shinobi so Naruto trotted to the pool's edge and tested its quality with his nose. There was no salty tang or any other pollutant therefore safe to say it was fresh mineral water from an underground reservoir. The fox was about to take a refreshing drink when a grey head pushed at his neck to get the orange creature to look slightly to the right. Dark eyes widened at the dog's discovery skimming leisurely along the bottom of the pond; catfish.

Naruto grinned as much as a fox expression allowed him to and a determined glint entered his eyes. Four legs tensed in an anticipatory crouch on the bank, preparing for sudden action as the eyes of the fox followed every fluid movement of his prey, calculating the most opportune moment.

Kakashi quietly sat where he was to watch the incredible Uzumaki Naruto catch fish for dinner. He remembered Sakura telling him about the boy's fishing ability during their first chuunin exam and the jounin had always wanted to see it first hand. Okay, so Naruto fishing in fox form was different and could be a success or a disaster, but would be entertaining none the less.

He didn't have to wait long to find out as the orange furred chuunin leapt into the water with astonishing speed and grace. A cloud of bubbles burst to the surface and obscured Kakashi's view of Naruto's attempt, though there was a lot of movement in a tight space. A minute later the soaked fox dragged him self from the pool and flopped onto the bank a little way from where he jumped in, the tails of two decent sized catfish trapped between his teeth. The grey dog shook his head and went over to Naruto, laughter silently ringing in his own mind. The young shinobi let go of his prize and watched Kakashi draw in the earth with a claw.

_Fire?_

Naruto nodded vigorously. Cooked fish would be so much tastier then eating it raw in his present form, besides, a fire meant returning to his normal human self even if just for a short while. A split second later the canine had disappeared from the clearing and into the trees, doing a brief once over the area to ensure that they remained undiscovered. Soon Kakashi was back, signalling the all clear and the pair released henge no jutsu simultaneously.

"We can build a small, sheltered fire to roast your catch." Kakashi informed the boy who just nodded, already searching for dead wood to use. "I must say that was an interesting way to catch fish Naruto."

The chuunin placed a hand behind his blonde head and glanced up at his former sensei. "Heh, it was harder as a fox than I expected." Naruto could tell that the older shinobi was grinning widely behind that mask of his and chose to return to picking suitable fire fuel.

The silver haired jounin grabbed the tails of the catfish and reallocated to the rock that fed the pool and then cleared a tiny area at the rear for the fire. Using a minor Katon jutsu, Kakashi lit the slightly damp wood Naruto had managed to find and had carefully stacked in the prepared spot. The fish were quickly skinned by a kunai, skewered firmly onto thin sticks, and placed into the flames to grill the flesh.

Naruto crouched by the fire staring impatiently at the sizzling meal, his stomach emitting a low growl as it imagined devouring the charring fish. It was the first fresh produce they had been able to eat in days, the rest of their food had been dry provisions and they had been becoming stale for a few days. The blonde privately wished they were having ramen as an accompaniment to the fish but he could survive without for any length of mission.

Kakashi monitored the amount of smoke emitted from the campfire while they waited, turning the sticks over to even out the cooking. After a small period he picked up the larger catfish and passed it to Naruto, who ignored the heat and eagerly bit into the scolding flesh. The boy had been totally immersed in enjoying his meal and had forgotten to discreetly observe the jounin eat until he was poked in the foot with the now fishless stick.

"Yo, finish that and we'll get going."

Naruto hid a scowl, how could the man eat so fast if only to keep the lower half of his face concealed from sight. He had initially hoped to snatch a glimpse of what was under the mask on this mission but so far Kakashi still had him guessing. The blonde threw his cleaned skewer into the fire and prepared to help erase all traces of their camp. Once that was completed to his satisfaction, the former ANBU performed several hand seals and bounded out of the resulting smoke into the undergrowth. Naruto duplicated the seals and mimicked the dog's flying exit with much more fluidity and a mischievous flick of his bushy tail.

They ran amongst the trees with little effort expended as their night vision let them see and avoid obstacles easily. The young chuunin didn't know exactly where Kakashi was leading him; he assumed it was to the edge of his scout before returning earlier. For the most part the Konoha shinobi had been heading in a northerly direction. Naruto checked the position of the partially veiled moon when the canopy opened enough to let him and discovered that they were travelling north-east.

It wasn't until they abruptly arrived at the edge of the foreign forest that the fox realised just how fast a pace Kakashi had been setting. He swore the jounin said the furthest boundary was a five day journey when they entered the woodland and they had been technically moving for just over four days. Naruto supposed that the uneventfulness also accounted for some of it.

The companions crouched in the damp foliage and observed the scenery before them. An empty road marked the perimeter of the forest, the width - which two small wagons could be driven abreast - indicating regular use and could accommodate a lot of traffic when it had to. Wetlands occupied the terrain on the opposite side until low mountains claimed the vista and off to the far right, the road could be seen meandering through the low plains. It was another story to the left as the highway lead to and past the gates of a large village and it was entirely walled of course. Sharp dark eyes focused on the writing above the wooden gate and the fox nodded in satisfaction, for it was the second last place of civilisation that was on their mission list.

The leaf ninjas settled into their hidden perches on the branches and waited for the morning. It would be at least another hour before the stars would start to fade and let the sun take the skies. Naruto motioned that he would sit watch and then tucked his tail against his body while ears, eyes, nose and chakra went on the alert. The jounin merely shrugged into a position where he wouldn't fall out of the tree and closed those mysterious black eyes of his.

The blonde hadn't actually noticed it before but Kakashi-sensei almost felt as a different person when he was unconscious, though he reflected it must be a recent change. Naruto had greatly improved his chakra sensing skills during the past year under the jounin's instruction as well as the ability to control his wind natured chakra.

Hm, he'd say it again, waiting sucked.

Dawn arrived in a glory of colours, albeit more slowly than Naruto would have liked, almost bordering on painful. First the navy heavens washed out and then the indigo blended richly into the pinks, reds and oranges girding the horizon. Naruto the fox sighed deeply, he loved watching sunsets, it was one of the prettiest sights to behold and the dawns he had been able to see were just as beautiful, including this one. A light wind lifted several fallen leaves off the ground beneath the trees and danced them over the road in the waxing light. Their emerald and violet colourings were vibrant in the clear crispness of the atmosphere of daybreak.

A quiet sneeze issued off to Naruto's right, heralding the awakening of the grey dog. The red-orange creature remained fixated on the cavorting greenery before shooting Kakashi an irritated expression, who just returned the dog equivalent of a smirk. Naruto knew what he had to do now, they had done the same disguise in every busy, civilised place they had visited on this mission. It did no good to be recognised so deep in another country while doing covert reconnaissance - not to mention they had little on Akatsuki's activities - and so they had come up with a cover. Well, he couldn't complain too much as now his sexy no jutsu - combined with a little control - had other uses than just defeating perverts. He released the fox transformation.

"Just like you to think of this Kakashi-sensei." The dog wagged his tail from side to side and yipped in response. "Bah, pervert." Naruto readied the chakra he needed to control the jutsu. "Hitoku henge no jutsu."

**. . . T B C . . .**

_Hitoku henge no jutsu - Hiding/concealment transformation technique_

_I was really unsure how this is going to turn out but I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think._

_Edited: 23/10/06  
Revised: 2007_


	2. Into the Village

Published: 22/9/06  
Revised: 23/10/06

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**Chapter 2 ( Into the Village )  
**

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"Just like you to think of this Kakashi-sensei." The dog wagged his tail from side to side and yipped in response. "Bah, pervert." Naruto readied the chakra he needed to control the jutsu. "Hitoku Henge no Jutsu."

_ Poof! _

A puff of transformation smoke obscured the young shinobi before it blew away on the breeze. A pretty girl stood in Naruto's place, and no she did not look exactly like the blonde either. Black hair hung loose to the shoulder and she was clothed in three-quarter length black cargo pants and belt, an orange Chinese collared sleeveless top, fishnet forearm protectors, and black sandals like Tsunade-sama's. The only feature that the Chuunin chose to keep was his bright blue eyes. People would definitely wonder about the whisker marks on her cheeks and the rare individual might have heard of the loudmouthed ninja from the Hidden Leaf. Therefore the unique characteristic was completely hidden by the jutsu for mission reasons, as well as his Hidden Leaf hitai-ate.

Small, spiral charms attached to her collar and belt swayed as the girl checked the contents of the pocket on her right leg (where the weapon pouch was). Satisfied, Naruto the girl dropped neatly out of her tree and onto the dirt of the highway, then starting walking in the direction of the village. The grey furred Kakashi leapt down beside her and become man's best friend, pretending to be the guardian of the lone girl. For a brief moment Naruto wondered whether the older shinobi would make a better pet than he was a teacher. She shook her head and grinned at the thought of the antics Kakashi could get up to as a dog, not to mention the drool.

Naruto looked down when the animal in question bumped the girl in the calf and tipped his head toward the gate. She followed his gaze and found the distance to the village shorter then the ninja had originally estimated. The wooden entrance was open to the morning traffic and a single guard stood post to one side, fiddling - Naruto noticed irritably - with the edge of a 'Come Come Paradise' book that was poorly concealed behind his back. The guy mustn't be regularly assigned early morning duties and so was expecting people arriving later on, rather than at the crack of dawn. Naruto threw the guard a sweet smile to disarm him of any suspicions - the guard blushed lightly at the attention - as the girl and grey dog passed him on their way into the village. It was not as if any shinobi could see through the jutsu unless she chose to release it, even with the aid of Sharingan.

It was still too early to easily acquire information on the streets so the standard action was to scout and familiarize one's self with the terrain. Kakashi abruptly went missing from Naruto's side as soon as the duo was out of the gate guard's sight. Though disguised, the Chuunin checked that no one was in sight then sought a foothold on a tiled roof on her left. There was a soft clicking noise as her sandals touched the ceramic but none of them was dislodged with her full weight. Luckily the building was higher than its neighbours were and allowed Naruto to quickly survey the immediate area.

She noticed that the village's layout was similar to Konoha, which gave her some relief. The last place they had visited had been entirely constructed of three storey buildings and hosted no alleys or backstreets for stealthy passage. It had frustrated Naruto no end, especially the time when she had accidentally angered a group of middle-aged woman by calling them elderly to Kakashi-dog. She shuddered at what might have happened if Naruto hadn't been able to ditch them by finding sanctuary underneath a street performer's makeshift stage.

The young shinobi dismissed the memory and jumped across to the next building, heading towards the centre of village as the sun's rays hit the previous roof's tiles. Naruto knew that the Jounin was likely scouting the lesser known areas where a stray dog wasn't as conspicuous, which left her to explore the marketplace if this village had them. Sure enough, she soon reached a large open section of the community containing the noise and slow bustle of sellers and early customers and the girl dropped into a back alley.

The morning crept by quite speedily as Naruto spent the entire time wandering pass the different stalls, silently comparing the products to the stuff she had seen in Konoha. Her ears were constantly pricked for any useful information that they could report back to the Godaime, yet by the time noon hit the streets the girl had not discovered any facts they did not already know. The Chuunin hoped that Kakashi had more luck than she did, which wouldn't be surprising as he was a really sneaky bastard when he wanted to be.

She figured the older Nin could not be too displeased if Naruto found a nice place to stay and, with any hope, a really good ramen shop. Naruto rounded a corner to enter the accommodation district and sauntered down the busy thoroughfare, gazing left and right as she went. It was almost at the end of the street when the girl found a place offering the two of the three things she wanted during her stay in the village. A comfy bed and hot baths beckoned to the young shinobi so Naruto entered the hostel and approached the service desk. She noted an advertisement of the accommodation's amenities and rules on the wall behind the counter, quickly reading through the list. The lack of one rule made the Chuunin grin and she refocused on the male attendant.

"Do you allow dogs to stay here?" she asked politely.

The man nodded. "Yes, we do. We cater to shinobi as well as other customers and their animals are no hustle to us."

"I'd like to book a room for my dog and me, please."

"Certainly." The attendant opened a lilac book and flicked the pages until he found the one he was looking for. "How long will you be staying?"

"One, maybe two nights" Naruto replied. The Konoha duo couldn't continue the mission in the Sound Country for much longer if the Hokage were to receive their report with recent information.

"What name can I put on the booking?"

The disguised blonde was ready for that question. "Kitsune Moriko."

He scribbled down the details and then passed a key over the counter. "Room 3, just down the hall and to the right." He smiled genially at the girl. "Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you. I think I will."

The Chuunin held the silver key lightly in her fingers and followed the directions the male attendant had given her. A right turn and an unlocked door later, Naruto stepped into a small but cosy room decked out in dark, neutral colours.

Naruto smirked absently. Kakashi could not be human while he stayed here, only because she had already declared having a canine companion. She had no doubts that the Jounin would get her back for this but for the time being Naruto didn't particularly care. Voicing its displeasure at Naruto's negligence, her stomach growled loudly as she dumped her pack by the room's only bed. Naruto ignored it for a moment and moved towards the sliding door on the opposite side of the chamber.

It led to a stream-enshrouded bathing pool fenced on all sides, which the girl determined must be fed from underground hot springs if every room of the hostel had a private steam bath. Again her stomach protested and this time Naruto listened, the bath could wait til later on. Locking the door to her room behind her, Moriko exited the hostel and went on the search for a ramen shop.

She had made it along two streets without much success when a loud and familiar voice momentarily pushed food from her mind.

"Thanks girls."

A woman giggled. "Come again sir."

"Oh I will! You can count on that."

Naruto almost crashed into the old shinobi exiting a 'men's club' as she was about to pass the shopfront. Luckily his back was facing the Chuunin as she abruptly stopped, avoiding the collision and tried desperately to school her shocked expression back to its normal state. After the years Naruto had spent with him, she was still amazed that Ero-sennin could get any useful information when he worked like that.

Fate decided to decree that the collision was going to happen no matter what.

The young girl unexpectedly felt very unbalanced as a very solid something thumped into her shoulder. There was no possibility of preventing the resulting crash into the back of Jiraiya.

_Shit. _

Naruto landed heavily on her arm and backside, grazing her palm on the street. It took a minute for her to realise that the smooth cylindrical mass that her back was currently draped over was his scroll. She scrambled to her feet, mentally kicking her self at the compromising turn of events and quickly dampening her chakra from the old man. It was a damn great time for the jutsu's attributes to be field tested.

Jiraiya gingerly got to his feet from where he had been pushed front down and turned to confront his 'attacker'. The annoyed expression immediately dissipated when he discovered the culprit to be a young woman.

"Well, hello."

She bent low in apology and summoned up the sweetest, flustered voice she could manage. "I'm so sorry, Jiraiya-sama."

The Sannin chuckled. "I'm sure it was an accident."

She nodded. Naruto rolled her eyes, glad her face was currently hidden by her black hair and bowed head.

"I accept your apology."

Naruto lifted her head to meet her sensei's gaze and coloured a light pink. Jiraiya was giving her the assessing look. The Chuunin cut off the mental tirade about perverted teachers storming through her thoughts. She bit her lip and deigned to use the embarrassed-to-be-getting-attention-from-a-great-shinobi look.

"I ah, I am honoured to be in your presence Jiraiya-sama." She was good at acting, if she could say so her self.

"Is that so? How do you know me if I may ask?"

"Um." _Think quick Uzumaki._ "My uncle has told me much about the legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf. He said you were the best." _I wonder if his ego will buy that._

Sure enough it did. "Ah, your uncle has a good head on his shoulders."

Right then her stomach audibly and noisily reminded Naruto of her previous activity, before the painful diversion of Jiraiya. The girl grinned sheepishly as Jiraiya laughed, and then it was his turn to be faintly embarrassed as his belly also responded to the thought of food.

He paused, an affectionate smile flitting through his countenance. "What's your name?" The girl's tummy rumbling had reminded him of Naruto.

Naruto inwardly smirked. _You know who I am._ "Kitsune Moriko."

"That's an interesting name. How about I treat you to dinner?"

"Really?" she said eagerly. _Hang on, he better not be hitting on me._ "Why?" Moriko asked a little wary.

"You remind me of someone I know" he grinned, "and we're both hungry."

_Thank god he's not. _"Alright."

"Do you have a preference?"

She shifted awkwardly as she told the truth, blue eyes flicking away. "I was looking for a ramen shop before I bumped into you."

"You're not from around here." The girl shook her dark head. "Well then, I just happen to know a place that sells decent ramen." The old shinobi walked off in the direction the young Chuunin was originally heading. Naruto ran the few steps to catch up with him and slowed to keep pace.

The restaurant Jiraiya spoke of was situated on the corner that this street shared with the next one. He stepped aside to let Moriko go in first, the perfect gentleman. It was strange to know one side of the Sannin yet be treated entirely different. They sat in a small booth at the front of the restaurant which sided onto one street and put in their orders when a young waitress came to their table.

Naruto had to stop her self from rolling her eyes again at the joyful glint in the old shinobi's eyes, indicating his approval of their waitress. At least that was the extent of his show of pervertedness, usually around Naruto his eyes would bug out and he'd start drooling. The Chuunin reflected whether it was because Jiraiya was in the presence of another young female, who would probably take offence to his normal behaviour, and not Naruto.

_Heh, that'll be right. He never minded about sullying my young male mind at thirteen. _

They didn't have to wait long for their food to arrive, the delicious smells making Naruto's mouth water as the bowls were placed in front of them. Her barbeque pork ramen looked good enough to inhale.

"Itadakimasu."

Naruto restrained from going into automatic mode, forcing her self to eat three times as slow. Jiraiya grinned and tucked into his own rice bowl. Silence reigned between the two for a few minutes before the Sannin broke it.

"Where are you from Moriko-san?"

"Fire Country originally" she replied absently. Naruto was actually thinking while she ate. Her problem now was how she was going to leave without Ero-sennin getting suspicious.

"Originally?"

She looked up from her bowl. Something was different about those eyes. _Damn it, I sparked his interest._ "I travel a lot these days." _True enough._

"What a coincidence. I do a bit of travelling myself." He put a finger to his chin. "Have you ever been to the Great Naruto Bridge in the Water Country?"

"I was in the Water Country last year. It is a magnificent bridge." _Liar, you were with Jiraiya, but that doesn't matter._

"You know that bridge was named after one of my students, Uzumaki Naruto."

She finished the last of the noodles and affected an awed tone. "Really?" _I wasn't your student back then._ "He must be a great ninja."

"Well, I wouldn't say great." _What!_ "But he's getting there."

_I better be, I'm going to be Hokage._ "You must be proud of him Jiraiya-sama."

"I am."

_ Scratch, scratch _

"Huh." Naruto glanced out the window and found a mass of grey fur pressed against the glass. _What the hell? Kakashi?_ She checked the sky for the last rays of the setting sun, but they were gone. It was already dark and lamps had been hung outside shopfronts.

A paw scratched the window again and those black eyes stared at the young girl. Jiraiya chuckled. "He really wants your attention, Moriko-san."

_Yeah, yeah, I know._ "Of course he wants it." Naruto felt a little peeved that she forgot about meeting Kakashi at sunset, but her voice didn't echo the feeling. "He's my companion."

"Ah, I thought it strange for a young woman to be travelling alone."

_ Scratch. Scratch _

Naruto pretended to observe the grey dog for a moment, like how she saw Kiba do with Akamaru. "Right." _Thanks for the escape Kakashi._

The disguised blonde turned back to her table partner. "Thank you for the meal Jiraiya-sama but Ginookami has reminded me of a prior engagement I must attend."

Jiraiya put on his widest, friendliest smile. "My pleasure, Moriko-san. It was nice meeting you."

Naruto waved and walked out the restaurant door, ruffling the fur on Kakashi's head as he joined her. That was a close one. If the conversation had gone on any longer, she felt she would have given her disguise away. Hopefully the changing affects of the transformation jutsu had fooled Jiraiya-sensei into thinking he was talking to Kitsune Moriko and not Uzumaki Naruto.

Five minutes later, she gave a wave to the attendant who had served her earlier and then collapsed onto the bed in the hostel room. The canine jumped upon the covers and promptly laid across the end of the bed, eyes closing in a resigned manner. Naruto grinned again; she had told the Jounin his fate on the way back.

It was comfy lying there sprawled over the bed, but one look at the sliding door and the steam bath became overly tempting. She thought about releasing the jutsu but one low, vague and unexpected growl from Kakashi banished the idea. They had argued about it at the start of the mission, the disagreement ending with Naruto never changing transformations until they were away from civilisation. The girl shook her head, grabbed the soap from her pack, gathered up a towel and slipped outside into the humid atmosphere.

First things first. She slipped off her clothing and entered the bath and billows of steam. The fragrant soap Naruto had was to mask the Chuunin's unique scent, a small block of it constantly kept in the outside pocket of her cargo pants. Naruto had never been able to stand strong perfumes but he could deal with the lemon soap.

She had been scrubbing for while when she heard the splashing of people entering water. It was the room to her right, her dampened chakra instinctively sensing five ninja. Naruto could hear hushed voices floating across the privacy fence, but her sensitive ears picked up most of the words being spoken. The conversation could be useless to the mission but they were shinobi, and it couldn't hurt to practice her eavesdropping skills.

"Speaking of pets, hasn't it been three years since that brat came."

"Yeah, I've heard Kabuto isn't secure in his position anymore."

_Huh? Kabuto? _

"He would be pissed if he heard you say that."

"So." There was a grunt. "He ain't here."

_They must be talking about someone else. _

"I'm not surprised though. Isn't he a prodigy or something?"

"Yep, a genius, said to rival **him**."

_Geez, every one is called a genius these days except me. _

"No one can rival **him**."

"It's rumoured that **he** desires him desperately."

Naruto rolled her eyes as she put the soap on the ledge. _Please don't be talking about perverts. Having them as a sensei is bad enough. _

"What the hell for?"

"Don't you know he has a Kekkai Genkai?"

_A bloodline limit? _She lazily waved her hands and fingers to and fro through the steaming water._ I wonder what it is._

"He's just another sacrifice for **his** experiments."

"Not just another experiment, I hear he is **his** successor."

Someone snorted. "You mean body."

Naruto became immobile as some of what they were saying clicked. _Genius? Kekkai Genkai? Body? They're not talking about **them** surely. _

"Where did the blasted kid abandon again?"

"Konoha."

"Same as **him** then."

"I've heard another rumour that **he** takes orders from the Uchiha."

_Is it possible they're talking about Itachi?_ Naruto shifted uncomfortably in the water.

"Hmm."

_Damn Sasuke!_ A couple of painful memories escaped the prison she had thrown them in.

"One of my bats was hiding in the same room when Uchiha-san forbade **him** from touching him."

"Orochimaru was always a sick bastard."

_What the hell?! _

...TBC...


	3. Of the Abandoner

Published: 27/9/06  
Revised: 23/10/06

Thanks to the people who reviewed, they made me really happy and gave me the motivation to finish chapter 3. I've made a Sasuke-tastic AMV gift for 700+ hits so visit my profile for the link. I hope you all enjoy chapter 3 and the AMV!

_-thoughts within dream-_

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**Chapter 3 ( Of the Abandoner )  
**

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For several minutes, two sapphire orbs gazed fixatedly at the blank white ceiling above her then the shinobi let out the breath she had been holding. Naruto closed her eyes and tried once again to fall asleep, but the shockingly informative conversation replayed in her mind for what seemed to be the thousandth time that night.

Both Kakashi and the young Chuunin were well aware when they left Konoha that their mission investigating Sound Nin could discover information relating to a certain betrayer, Uchiha Sasuke. This was the first evidence they had found of the condition of Sasuke's relationship with the snake-like man. There was no doubt that Orochimaru's current hideout could be somewhere close by, as the Sound ninjas had grumbled about getting back before someone was "made an example of" when they left the bath.

Naruto slid into an uneasy slumber, her tired mind battling endless chaotic and broken thoughts and memories.

_He watched as his hands clasped together; he didn't lift his head. _

**_"I have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream" _**

_-To kill a certain man- _

_He held him delicately in his arms; needles painfully riddled his body. _

**_"I told myself I wouldn't die until I killed him" _**

_-But you're heading towards death- _

_He straddled the boy, pinning him against the hard rock; an uncaring look on his face. _

**_"I'm going to Orochimaru's place" _**

_-He just wants your body as a container- _

_He suddenly grabbed a fistful of his collar; a condescending laugh. _

**_"I don't care" _**

_-You might not come back alive- _

_He forcefully shook him; another smirk. _

**_"I never expected to" _**

_Entirely bewildered, he stared across the vast distance that had grown between them. All he could see were those murderous, scarlet eyes, three black marks patterning each pupil. They did not belong to his rival, his friend. His heart fractured. _

_-Why- _

**_"You are my closest friend" _**

_-Why- _

**_"I must kill you" _**

_-Why- _

**_"To break those bonds" _**

_-Why- _

**_"To become stronger" _**

_-Why- _

**_"To defeat Itachi" _**

_-Why- _

**_"To avenge my clan" _**

_-Why- _

**_"Because you held me back" _**

_-Why- _

**_"Because you're important to me" _**

_-Why- _

**_"Baka" _**

Naruto snapped upright staring ahead, sweat trickling from her forehead down the side of her face and neck. She fought to control her irregular breathing, gulping in large breaths. Once Naruto had calmed a bit she wearily shook her head to clear the static dizziness. The young shinobi slowly removed the tangled sheets from around her trembling limbs, throwing them over the immobile sleeping Jounin. She swung her legs off the bed and sat on the edge, eyes facing but not seeing the opposite wall.

She rubbed at her prickling blue eyes with the back of her hand. It had been several months since she had had a nightmare involving her oldest rival. They had all been disturbing, mostly murdering twists on missions Team 7 had completed. But why, why was she remembering these snippets after just hearing of the cursed Uchiha. The Sound ninja hadn't mentioned Sasuke by name but Orochimaru, the sick bastard.

The edges of the haunting nightmare became fuzzy, like any dream she pondered on. The deep voice of dark haired ninja echoed somewhere between her ears and brain again.

**_"Because you're important to me" _**

She had never actually heard Sasuke utter those words, all the rest yes, but not that exact sentence.

**_"Because you're important to me" _**

Naruto knew the stubborn Uchiha heir was and always will be precious to her. Had Sasuke ever felt the same in return?

**_"You are my closest friend" _**

There was no point torturing her self over the issue; Sasuke had abandoned Naruto, Team 7 and Konoha all for the promise of power.

Sunlight filtered pass the outline of the blackout screens pulled over the sliding door. A stray beam crawled up the wall she was staring at, making Naruto blink as the brightness reflected back. All she really wanted to do was to wriggle under the cotton sheets and fall into a peaceful slumber. The Chuunin guessed it was well after dawn with no clouds crowding out the skies. She sluggishly moved to open the screen and looked out. Yep, no a wisp of white any where, meaning a hot day.

Naruto pitied the silver haired Jounin - wait - _almost_ pitied him as her recollection noted annoyingly that he never seemed to be affected by any type of weather whatsoever. The disguised blonde idly hoped the heavy fur of the wolf-dog transformation made Kakashi itch today.

The canine in question rolled off the bed and landed with a muffled thump on the wooden floor. One paw against the hostel door was all it took for Naruto to quickly open it for him. Who knows what would happen if someone saw the dog let itself out by the doorhandle. Kakashi sent the girl a soft bark and trotted away down the hallway, to all appearances going outside.

If the teenager was correct in her guess, her sensei was off to scout out the Sound ninja. Naruto had returned from her bath the night before, still in shock but able to move and speak. She related every part of the overheard conversation to the Jounin in a very un-Uzumaki like monotone. Afterwards the former ANBU had gently nudged the dismayed Naruto into going to bed and then flopped across her legs to sleep.

No matter what else, they had a mission to complete; otherwise Tsunade-baasan would have words with the two skilled shinobi when they returned and painful ones at that. Naruto collected the clothes of her female guise and quickly dressed before cleaning her teeth and washing her face. The spiral charm upon her collar pulsed warm against the cloth over her heart just as Naruto finished strapping on her arm protectors.

It was a signal from Kakashi for the Chuunin to follow quickly. Naruto would have flown out of the room at the warning except that Moriko was not supposed to overtly show any skills which would mark her as a trained shinobi. She hastily shoved on her pack, approached the front desk to pay her account and exited the hostel one step from a run. The girl settled for a speedy flight across the village's rooftops once hidden from public scrutiny down an alleyway.

The disguised blonde sensed out the small amount of altered chakra held by a spiral charm. Kakashi had several with him, concealed in the thick fur around his neck. Once activated by chakra, these unique charms acted like beacons as well as silent communication for the Hidden Leaf ninja. Naruto landed lightly on the wall surrounding the village and scanned the forested area.

A silver speck caught her eye in the braches of one of the giant trees little beyond the barrier. She dropped from the wall's massive height into the copious foliage to retrieve the spiralled object. It was still warm to the touch, meaning that the Jounin had gone on ahead in pursuit of their targets. Naruto was about to track the grey canine when she felt a shift in the air.

_ Crack! _

Several jagged splits tore through the solidarity of the branch Naruto was crouching upon and cracked under her feet. This was so not good. The limb continued its torturous wooden screech as both gravity and the Chuunin's weight assisted its journey to the hard earth below. Naruto's instinctual leap free of the falling greenery collided with large tree debris from above and turned into a fierce, gravity-controlled fall. The dark haired teenager managed to gather her wits and was barely able to soften the impact with a thin layer of chakra before she hit compacted dirt. It had taken the edge off the crash but the resulting bruises still stung.

Two shadows shot from the neighbouring trees to land on either side of the fallen Konoha shinobi. Naruto gingerly got to her feet, half dazed, vision slightly blurred and annoyed. The newcomers were clearly Hidden Sound; Naruto cursed in her head. It seemed the group had divided while Kakashi trailed them; no wonder he had activated the spiral. The former ANBU left nothing to chance and had continued after the larger group.

"What do we have here?" the cutting voice belonged to the smaller man of the Sound pair.

"Oi, I thought we were trapping an old guy" whined the other Nin, a mountain of muscle.

The comment completely threw Naruto off her current line of thought; which was how could the Sound ninja know she and Kakashi were their enemy from Hidden Leaf. Then an inkling of whom they really wanted flashed through the interrupted assessment, Jiraiya was also in the village. These creeps knew someone was digging up information on the Sound and Jiraiya had been the target, Sannin or not. Unfortunately she had walked straight into the trap meant for him.

The cruel eyes of the small shinobi darted to the Chuunin's right, dropping to the ground near his partner's feet. Naruto followed his gaze and stopped breathing. The necklace she had won from Tsunade before she had become Godaime lay forsaken in the churned dirt. She forced her self to take in air. It must have fallen out of her pocket during the teenager's plummet from the tree. Normally Naruto wouldn't remove the necklace from around her neck but the stubborn thing refused to be altered by any jutsu.

"Ganjoushi, your feet."

Goliath scooped up the precious item and poked at it with a meaty finger.

Naruto hated the sight of the Sound ninja touching her things. "Give back my necklace!"

"I think I'll keep it. It's pretty," he replied.

"Besides you don't want it anymore," continued the small ninja with a sadistic smile. They were going to 'play' with the young girl rather than let her go since she had gone and tripped their trap.

"It's mine. Give _it **back**_." She almost growled the words in rising anger, her fists clenching.

"And what is a girl like you going to do about it?"

"I'll beat you up to get it."

"I'd be keen to see you try" the hulk smirked. "You're not even a real ninja as we are."

_Go to hell._ Naruto prepared her self for a fight. _Kakashi can't blame me for this, even if it's against mission limitations._

"What do we have here?" a new, nonchalant voice sounded off to her left.

Naruto blinked. Looking around and then up, she found the old shinobi framed by several leafy branches. Jiraiya-sensei had planted his hands on his hips and stood with feet set apart. Displeasure and disgust was written plainly across his face, belying the calm tone he had just used. Thankfully, the slight scowl was not directed at her.

_Ooo, I know that look_.

A calculating gaze swept over the Sannin, the Sound's previous objective. "It's none of your business old man" spat the little man.

"If you're talking to Moriko then it _is_ my business." The frown deepened. "I can't stand animals that harm and harass women."

The young Chuunin almost forgot to breathe again. If Jiraiya-sensei was to see the Shodaime Hokage's necklace, his cover would be blown to smithereens. A tirade of mental curses about her precarious predicament then ensued. It only stopped when two of the four people in the forest clearing vanished from their static positions. The Hulk and the disguised blonde were left staring wildly around for their missing comrades.

Their combined shadows suddenly reappeared on the dirt before Naruto, a black splodge growing larger as the Leaf and Sound shinobi exchanged blows. Naruto craned her neck upwards to watch the fighting, silently but eagerly cheering for Ero-sennin despite Ganjoushi (Goliath) near by. Jiraiya pushed off a tree trunk angled towards the short ninja below him, blue chakra rapidly gathering in his right palm. The Rasengan found its' mark in the Sound's stomach and sent him whirling into his partner on the ground. The force of the resulting collision knocked the blonde's necklace from Ganjoushi's giant paw.

Blue eyes widened in an instant and then Naruto ran forward, catching the precious item before it hit the dusty earth again. Fingers quickly pocketed it, hiding the crystal from Jiraiya's sight and attention. Said Sannin landed in a perfect crouch next to the young girl, whose panic during the whole situation was finally simmering down.

"It's in strange circumstances that we meet again Moriko-san." Jiraiya stated as he unwound from his last fighting stance. His eyes flickered over her appearance. Naruto guessed her sensei was gauging the extent of her injuries. "Are you hurt?" he asked decisively.

_Yep, I was right._ She raised a self conscious hand to the back of her neck, entirely a Naruto gesture. "I'm fine." Though the Chuunin had stopped relying on the Kyuubi and even suppressed the demon's healing powers, the injuries from the fall were distant aches.

Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched. "Where's Ginookami?"

"Ginookami?" Naruto repeated as it slowly dawned on her. _Oh shit, Kakashi's after the other Sound._ Alarm shot across her expression and jump started her heart. "Tch, I forgot!" If Naruto were to catch up with them now, then she didn't have time to dally with the status of her cover and the sennin.

The older shinobi inconspicuously observed the foreplay of emotions the girl displayed but could not fathom a reason behind them. Naruto's legs tensed in readiness for the chase. Before the Sannin could say or do anything else, Moriko had thrown him a hurried, "Thank you Jiraiya-sama!" and disappeared into the cover of the surrounding forest accompanied by the whoosh and leaves falling from her passing.

**.o0o. **

He growled his frustration into the empty room, extreme annoyance bleeding through the normally impassive expression. The sound seemed louder than it was in actuality within the cavernous space as it reverberated around the stone walls. Echoes of water dripping some where close by in the small complex mingled with the last vestiges of the human growl, lending the atmosphere a feeling of desolation.

It was dark, lightless, pitch black, whatever you want to call it but nothing could be seen, not even if something was waved two centimetres in front of your eyes. Yet that didn't stop him from coming to that isolated underground cave, if fact, it was the reason why he came to train there. This place was perfect for enhancing his senses.

On some occasions when he was particularly irritated he would bring another to spar in the grotto, one who was skilled in using the darkness. He alternated between four people with the necessary talent, and he was certain that two of them felt completely and utterly beholden to him for considering them. He didn't like any them, and the reason why he still sparred with the four was because they were fun to 'play' with in the dark and they would be quite useless if dead.

However, this trip he had made alone. Silently he snatched an embedded kunai from the wall behind and immediately released it in the same motion, sending it whistling through the still air at an unseen target. If light flooded the area, the action would have only been a blur to even the fastest of eyes. A wooden thunk heralded the absolute success of the throw, considering that the targets set up were discs ten centimetres in diameter.

His eyes had long been used to the gloom after all the training he did here and that had given him the ability to wilfully control the amount of light they took in. Even with this capacity, being underground for as long as he had had still accumulated the natural consequences of soreness. He activated his Doujutsu and stared around the cavern, eyeing the stalagmites, stalactites and stone walls covered by the tiny discs. Every single one possessed an edged weapon in their exact centre so there was a very good reason for him to smirk at the utter darkness.

The boy's satisfaction over the improvements he was continuously making did not last long. The physical exertion had given him temporary relief as he concentrated wholly on the exercise but the images, memories and dreams he had been trying to escape wheedled back into his thoughts as soon as he stopped. He continued to brood as he stalked around the cavern and retrieved the shuriken and kunai that he had used from the targets.

Ugh! Out of the mental maelstrom, he hated the dreams the most. He couldn't work out the tangle of feelings these dreams stirred in his subconscious like before, just because it was his subconscious that was happily screwing his mind about. Compared to the painful memories of his childhood, they contrarily confused him at every chance they got, adding another layer of complexity to the boy while he was awake. Not like any body in the village was allowed to notice or that he even gave a damn what other people thought of him. The infamous cold façade, cutting stares and blunt remarks provided him with the respect and obedience he deserved from the lesser ninja.

At last he ended up back where he had left the few things he had brought when he came underground. He carefully restocked the kunai belt and let the shuriken fall softly back into their leather pouch. The boy had once overheard someone commenting that it seemed like he took more care of his weapons than he would of his own mother. Needless to say the said person didn't survive the encounter unscathed, the injuries he sustained from the boy had him hospitalised for several weeks. The reason why his weapons had such attention was because they were the only things he had faith in, not a single human in that dreary place had earned his trust.

He gathered up the cloth satchel and swung it across his shoulders with one hand, the weapon holders gripped securely in the other. A scowl replaced his previous expression as he again dwelt on his dreams, he did not like the path his thoughts had been taking him down recently. There shouldn't have been a chance in hell that he would get this particular emotion after these years spent in hate and revenge-driven purposefulness.

A snippet of a disturbing and wished-it-was-forgotten dream rose from underneath his ranting thoughts.

**_An invisible kunai jabbed him in the heart as obsidian eyes spied the boy with a blonde mop of hair. _**

If the boy seriously took the dreams as an indication of his mental state then he would believed him self insane. He refused to translate the literal meanings of the night-time visions, too proud to back down into the possible consequences they would present. No matter how hard he tried to deny it to him self, only one person had a continuous attendance in his dreams. So may be, just may be, this person had broken the dispassionate fortress he had carefully built, and he - he had let him do it. He hated that even more.

The back of the dark haired teen stiffened as he came to a decision, stalking from the hard stone cave of darkness and desolation. Uchiha Sasuke did_ not **feel**_ guilt

...TBC...

* * *

AN: I will update chapter 4 sooner if I get over 10 reviews. 


	4. To the Fight

Posted: 24/10/06

I've contradicted myself for posting this chapter but the review thing stands. Chapter 5 will be posted sooner if HB gets more reviews.

I'm happy this fic is turning out better than my expectations and hope you like the longer chapter. Don't forget I also post replies to reviews at my LJ.

Please note: Chapter 1 has been slightly revised, necessary for the flow of the next chapter so you might want to reread it if you read HB before chapter 4 was posted (otherwise don't worry).

Disclaimer: I only own the words in front of you on the screen

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**Chapter 4 ( To the Fight )**

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The disguised blonde channelled as much chakra as she could into her legs to get as far away from Jiraiya as she could, desperately hoping he wouldn't follow her. She spotted the stretch of a broad branch ahead and halted her headlong rush with a thud on the wood.

"Kai!"

Naruto released the complicated transformation, aware that Kitsune Moriko's masquerade would be useless if he kept going. The spiral charm on his jacket's zip flared, a scorching heat against his chest, bringing Naruto back to the matter at hand. The young Chuunin ranged his senses for the small device that had just been activated in a different signal, Kakashi-sensei was in trouble and he needed help. Naruto found the altered chakra off in a direction to his right, a fair distance away.

He allowed a second to pass on the debate whether to turn into a fox or not. If the Jounin was in danger and still the grey furred wolf-dog, Naruto couldn't afford the limitations. Mind made up, the teenaged shinobi raced through the sparse areas of foliage towards the location where the charm was and Kakashi. He checked his chakra reserves, relieved to find that it was hardly dented from the fall and mad dash from Jiraiya; relieved he wasn't going to unwittingly tap into the Kyuubi's supply.

The blonde could feel the presence of three unknown ninja and the altered pattern that was Kakashi well before the sounds of battle reached his sensitive ears. He noted that only one of the Sound Nin seemed to be moving, the others content to watch from the sidelines as their companion toyed with the large canine. Naruto's annoyance came to the surface, why in hell did their secret mission have to get an unexpected twist so close to completion.

He thought he had had the upper hand with a surprise attack on the two motionless shinobi as their backs were exposed to his sight. However, once again he forgot to plan alternatives past the initial attack as adrenaline swept through his veins and he plunged into the fight. He was Uzumaki Naruto after all.

The orange and black clad teenager drew kunai from his leg pouch and threw a couple of them directly at the man on the left, not even pausing in his stride. Blue eyes widened as the sharp points refused to penetrate flesh and bounced off in opposite directions.

_What the..._?

Naruto aimed the next weapon carefully and flipped the kunai in his left hand to a defensive hold. The airborne blade buried itself into the underside of their perch. The enemy whipped around at the consecutive attacks, one of them already performing hand seals. The blonde twisted thin strings of chakra together and lined the edge of the remaining weapon in readiness for the counter attack. Several large spiders crawled from their hiding place on the ninja's body and launched themselves at the incoming Naruto, silky threads trailing behind them. A chakra reinforced thread net closed in around the Chuunin but the wind blade sliced through it cleanly.

The other Nin, the one with the impenetrable back, followed the arachnids with a set of bombs which exploded in the blonde's face. Naruto detonated his own explosive as he breathed in and choked on the pepper smoke, eyes watering and temporarily disorientated. The enemy struggled to find another footing as the wood was blasted from underneath their feet courtesy of the last kunai the boy threw. Naruto dropped into lower foliage to get away from the smoke and almost slipped out of the tree he landed in. He discovered that the branch was slicked with damp moss as the young shinobi righted him self and then cursed the unfamiliar environment.

The Konoha teen remained as hidden as possible with his back to the trunk while he sensed out the Sound's movements. His ears picked up a consistent whining hum somewhere behind him but everything else told Naruto they were ahead and to the left. This could be his chance to seize the advantage again for he was certain they couldn't sense his dampened chakra very well. Naruto carefully drew three each of kunai and shuriken from his pouches as well as another explosive tag. He kept a cautious tab for any movements of chakra while he wrapped the tag around the hilt of a kunai. Just as the teen had finished readying the weapons, a shift in his senses alerted him to the feat Naruto would never had thought feasible. The enemies' charka signatures had vanished.

"Damn it" the blonde cursed in a breath.

Typically, thoughts such as, 'what', 'where'd they go' and 'how they do that', ran idly around in the part of Naruto's brain that was not occupied by the battle at hand. There was nothing for it, he'd have to continue with his attack plan at their last known position and try to flush them out. The joints of his fingers flattened against the metal shuriken to hold them firmly in place as Naruto cautiously crept around the solid trunk. The young Chuunin threw them in the prior direction of enemy chakra and observed the flight of his weapons, waiting for a counter attack.

_Come on; give away your position already._

To his relief, shuriken sliced through the shrubbery to confirm the hidden whereabouts of the pair, though Naruto had no idea how the Sound Nin thought that three stars would be enough to stop his six. He found out quickly as the kunai and shuriken suddenly slapped against the foreign objects and started to fall, halted in their trajectory. One of them hit Naruto's booby trapped blade and the smoke of the explosion obscured the area along with shredded leaves and wood debris.

The incessant whine increased, seeming to come from every where at once. Naruto turned in several directions, wishing for once for the sight and nose of his fox transformation. Hundreds of black and yellow bees burst into the open aimed directly at the blonde's tree. It took the second for Naruto's eyes to open fully to realise one of the enemy shinobi was a general bug user. The bees were swarming in rapidly but he knew he didn't have enough throwing weapons to combat the tiny pests. Well he could remedy the lack of supplies, that was no problem. A hasty but entirely plausible idea struck the Chuunin; he could find the magnetic guy while he defeated those bees.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Suddenly there were hundreds of shuriken hurtling through the cloud of insects, slicing them cleanly in half. It was like a storm of blood and minute bodies surrounding the still island and originators of Naruto triplets. Sky blue orbs concentrated on the ever expanding circle of throwing stars as he anticipated the moment when steel collided. At the same time as numerous shuriken disappeared to be lost in the foliage, a single metallic twang rent the charged atmosphere from the opposite side of the circle. The two bunshin Narutos at the tree vanished in smoke for the boy was all over the revealed position of the ninja within seconds.

The young shinobi from Konoha flashed his battle grin when he saw the guy's shocked expression at the four shuriken that had not succumbed to his magnetic jutsu and abruptly turned into a black and orange clad Naruto. One of the previous weapons tackled the Sound's legs, knocking him clear of his perch. The other three followed closely behind to send him high into the air for one of the boy's personal moves. Naruto leapt above the enemy and gathered chakra to his leg before twisting into the kick.

"U-zu-ma-ki Naruto Rendan!"

He released the built up chakra and delivered the final blow with punishing force, five times stronger than normal. Naruto knew it was a clumsy effort that Sakura-chan would have ridiculed, but he was thankful that she had even decided to train him a little before the blonde had left for this mission. The body of the magnetic shinobi crashed past thick branches to reach the hard ground below; it was highly likely that the guy would never get up again.

Naruto landed on an unbroken limb for a moment and then jumped back into action headed for the known area of the last Sound he had neglected, since the Chuunin still could not sense his chakra. He had only moved through several trees when blood splattered grey fur caught the edge of his vision. Kakashi lifted his muzzle towards the teen as Naruto dropped into a crouch beside him on the bough.

The Jounin immediately released the transformation, knowing every minute counted to keep the mission on track. But Kakashi refused to give up his sense of humour to take a stab at Naruto.

"What took you so long?" the older shinobi asked.

Naruto almost saw red when he heard that annoyingly calm tone his sensei used, but he had known Kakashi long enough not to bite. The blonde ignored the question to raise one of his own.

"Where's the guy you were fighting?"

"Some where back there I suppose." Kakashi tipped his head back over his shoulder, careful not to over do it.

Naruto, however, saw the slight wince the Jounin made with the movement. Concern seeped through his being as he bent to examine the blood covered uniform more closely. There was a gash across his left forearm and the arm was flaccid, though the boy hadn't been able to discern it straight away from the way the former ANBU had been holding it. The blonde shook his head and stood from his squat to help him. He placed his hand against Kakashi's left shoulder, grabbed the elbow in a firm grip and gently twisted the dislocated shoulder back into place. Kakashi rolled his eye at the admonishing expression his student threw at him once he was done with the injury.

"We've got to move. That bug user has left to get reinforcements and I don't want this reconnaissance mission to turn into a rescue because we got careless." Naruto just nodded and the Jounin continued. "I spotted a cave where we can hole up about a kilometre back towards the town."

With that said, Kakashi led the blonde away from the battle marked zone to the somewhat relative safety of the so called cave. Naruto mulled over the reasons the Jounin wanted to leave around in his mind while his feet instinctively found purchases amongst the vegetation as he followed. The blonde would have loved to pursue that last ninja but Kakashi was right, the mission had top priority over his grudge against the Hidden Sound.

It took several minutes for the Hidden Leaf ninja to reach a low hill covered with short stumpy trees - whose canopy did not achieve the same height as the surrounding forest, forming a shallow bowl in the greenery. Kakashi motioned with a hand and the pair descended to the ground. It was quite rocky at the base and there was a lot of thick scrub which the Jounin immediately walked into. Naruto grumbled while he pushed past whippy twigs heavy with leaves that occasionally liked to whack the back of his head when he wasn't careful. So it was in typical Naruto style that the boy only noticed the opening once the earth gave out from under his feet.

Kakashi observed with mild amusement as Naruto squawked and tried to regain his balance; he tilted backwards and fell heavily on his butt, sliding downhill a little. The young Chuunin gingerly got up and dusted the dirt off the seat of his orange pants.

"Don't you ever use those eyes of yours" Kakashi commented dryly before sauntering through the entrance and down the steep decline into the darkness.

Naruto glared at the retreating back then took a step as if to join him but his pride refused to prove the older shinobi right, instead his blue eyes wandered to the environment. There was a wall of foliage forming a semicircle in front of the entry and the stunted trees did not grow as thickly here. Naruto marvelled at the Jounin's uncanny ability to see underneath any type of cover, the blonde would have needed to stop and look around a bit before finding this entrance. Now that he stared at it, the opening appeared like a natural fissure which had been broadened by human tools. Back in the forests of the Fire County usually there would be the distant calling of birds or even the background scuffles of the native animals, yet here it was unnaturally quiet save for the light wind disturbing the complacent vegetation.

A faint voice echoed back to the blonde. "Oi, you coming?"

The glare returned to pierce the darkness even though Naruto knew the silver haired ninja couldn't see it and marched inside. He moved slowly down the tunnel to let his eyes gradually adjust to the ever increasing lack of light, which was lucky for the sides, floor and low roof of the passage were quite rough. Naruto brushed his palm along the wall as he turned a soft corner in the tunnel, feeling the varied combination of stone and packed earth that made up the hard surface. He let the lumps of dirt crumble and fall from his fingers as little chunks broke away from their natural arrangement.

The blonde finally caught up to Kakashi at the end of the passageway that spilled outwards into a small, circular underground cave, probably eleven metres to the furthermost wall at a quick guess. What little amount of light that had managed to filter in from outside revealed a thin layer of dust and decaying foliage which littered the ground. It was safe to assume no human or animal would disturb the two shinobi any time soon.

Naruto dropped his backpack on the ground near the centre of the hollow and glanced back to Kakashi and his wounded arm. Blood was lightly clotting along the cut and stiffened the once green cloth as it dried. Behind that mask it didn't even look like the Jounin was the slightest bit worried about the gash. The blonde dug around the inside of his pack to grab the item he was searching for and threw the roll of bandage at the tall man.

"I'm not going to be your nurse you know."

Kakashi didn't bother with a reply, instead the sound of ripping material echoed about the small cave. The former ANBU flipped the stained sleeve and a scroll from his vest at the teen. Naruto deftly caught the two objects, quickly swiping a thumb across the cloth and onto the expanse of the now open scroll. A puff of white smoke heralded the successful summoning of Kakashi's smallish but heavy pack, which incidentally Naruto dropped on his foot. Konoha's Number One loud ninja swore and kicked the offending bag in the direction of its owner where it landed half way between the pair.

"Ow, Naruto, did you have to do that?" Kakashi played.

Naruto glowered momentarily at the pack and then his sensei. "Hmph. You summon it next time."

"You still have to find wood for the fire."

He rolled his eyes as he approached the battered backpack to pull out the small axe. "When don't I get the wood" the Chuunin grumbled and trudged back up the tunnel with the tool braced against his shoulder.

The Jounin slipped from his standing position to discover a more comfortable spot on the hard ground. He carefully wiped the injury on his arm clean and securely wrapped it in the sterilised bandage one-handed. Kakashi gave him self a slight nod of approval once he was satisfied with the tightness of the dressing. A hand automatically pulled the ever-present orange book from his belt pouch and flipped it open to a well read page. But for once Kakashi's one good eye didn't trail across the page, focusing rather blindly on a single point.

They would rest a while in this deserted underground place until the silver haired man was more certain that the Sound shinobi that was surely on their tails, had been shaken somewhat. Next was to avoid running into any body else and returning to Konoha to report to the Hokage. The mission scroll did state the two ninja had one more place to scout but they had been in the Sound Country for a month already. The last communication of information had been sent back over a week and a half ago. Kakashi sighed and then allowed him self to be distracted wholeheartedly by his favourite novel.

Meanwhile, grumbling outside in the forest, Naruto already had the makings of a decent campfire and was now gathering a neat pile of spare fuel. He stayed close to the entrance but was cautious not to leave any obvious marks of his travels. It was about his fifth return trip when Naruto collected his timber booty and traipsed into the underground hollow, only to drop the lot once he spied Kakashi.

The blonde absently asked the air "Why me?" as he stacked a few logs on top of each other for the fire. After he was done, Naruto wiped the dirt off his palms along a trouser leg.

"Need help?" asked a voice in the blonde's ear and Naruto jumped. Startled, he swivelled to face the Jounin, who had put down his reading and quietly crept up on him.

Even though the silver haired shinobi always moved quietly, Naruto never seemed very prepared when he made surprise appearances directly behind the boy. "Geez Kakashi, are trying to kill me?"

"I didn't think you would let me" Kakashi replied, waving a hand.

Naruto watched silently while the Jounin exhaled chakra and created a little bit of Katon magic. _I've always wanted to breathe fire_. "Hey sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you teach me some Katon jutsus when we finish our mission?"

"Since when did you desire the knowledge to create fire?"

The Chuunin stuck out his tongue. "You know I always want to learn new jutsus. I just," Naruto shifted his gaze from the older shinobi to the ground, "I never got around to asking before."

Ever observant, Kakashi noticed the flicker of pain behind those azure eyes when he had hesitated. Naruto must have wanted to learn Katon since when he was a Genin, most likely because that was his greatest rival's specialty. He could have asked Jiraiya-sama while on his two year training trip, yet he didn't. Sasuke abandoning Konoha really did hit Naruto hard if he was only now requesting for the Jounin to train him in the ninjutsu.

"Eh," the former ANBU scratched a temple with an index finger. "I don't know Naruto. Your chakra control isn't crash hot."

Naruto pouted. "But I've improved a lot" he whined. "Please Kakashi-sensei, pretty please?"

Kakashi debated whether to tease Naruto and draw out his answer, but the knowledge that the disgustingly cute and watery puppy eyes would be next, pushed the argument in the boy's favour. "Alright. When we get back to the village I'll teach you."

"Wah!" The blonde grinned outrageously. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver haired ninja let the teen celebrate for a moment before getting serious. "Naruto." The boy in question caught the gravity in his tone and immediately calmed. "I'm calling an end to this mission."

"Nande? I thought we had another village to visit."

"Our encounter with the Hidden Sound has made it too dangerous to continue." Kakashi pushed a grin past his worry. "Now go do something that doesn't use chakra while we wait."

"Hai."

Naruto shoved a hand back into Kakashi's pack and pulled out the things he would need to make tea then busied him self with heating the water. Once it could be left unsupervised for a little while, Naruto flopped down next to his own bag to pull a scroll from an outside pocket. The writing on the label announced that the scroll contained instructions for the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruto knew well one can never have too many clones so why not throw in a different type on top of his growing list of jutsus.

The two Konoha shinobi lapsed into silence as Naruto commenced his study and Kakashi did whatever it was he did when bored. Naruto didn't bother checking to see what he was doing, refusing to believe reading perverted books was the older man's one and only hobby, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. The Chuunin had almost finished memorising the last part of the scroll when the former ANBU passed a tea filled bamboo stalk along with a hunk of bread and hard cheese. Kakashi drank the last of his own tea before standing and flexing the muscles in his injured limb. The blonde watched the face of his sensei closely even though his back was turned towards Naruto.

"I'm going out to scout the forest for ninja. I won't be back until after dark."

"Don't expect me to wait up for you."

"When have you ever been awake for more than ten hours." Kakashi transformed and disappeared out the cave entrance in a flash of familiarly coloured fur, missing the scene of Naruto once again sticking out his tongue at the Jounin's comment.

"Does he get an unholy kick out of teasing me?" the teen muttered into the silence. He received no response from the empty space; not that Naruto expected one, he was too used to it at his apartment for him to be fazed in a situation like this.

The crackling of the flames slowly ate at the atmosphere as the blonde watched the few fire-cast shadows dance on the stone ground. Without the presence of someone else around to entertain his mind, the loud mouthed ninja let his normal energetic self wane, along with the desire to complete his jutsu study. Naruto felt tired; the lacking rest of last night's troublesome nightmares must have caught up with him already. The blonde stretched out the kinks beginning to form in his upper back and neck from hunching over the scroll, a small yawn escaping his lips.

Naruto had no idea how much time had passed since they had fought with the enemy of the Hidden Sound. He found that he didn't really care all too much anyway for the sensible part of the Chuunin's brain was telling him to take a catnap. Since Kakashi was out and he currently had nothing to do besides waiting, Naruto laid down on the earthy floor with his pack as a pillow. The contents of the bag had to be shoved around a little before it was comfy to the blonde's satisfaction. It didn't really matter anyway as Naruto was unconscious about thirty seconds after he stopped fidgeting, his breathing soft and calm for the moment.

…TBC…

* * *

AN: So that was the first major fight scene I've ever written. How'd I do? Did it suck? Does it need improvement?  
Um, please review. Pretty please? o.o'

Just a simple warning for future chapters, if you're interested in things like this, I am going to try my hand at delving deeper into characters minds, aka some psychological issues. So if HB's plot seems cliche until now then trust me, I believe it won't be for much longer.  



	5. Konoha's Shinobi Retreat

Reposted: 5/1/07  
Author's Notes at the end.

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**Chapter 5 ( Konoha's Shinobi Retreat )**

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Naruto had no idea how much time had passed since they had fought with the enemy of the Hidden Sound. He found that he didn't really care all too much anyway for the sensible part of the Chuunin's brain was telling him to take a catnap. Since Kakashi was out and he currently had nothing to do besides waiting, Naruto laid down on the earthy floor with his pack as a pillow. The contents of the bag had to be shoved around a little before it was comfy to the blonde's satisfaction. It didn't really matter anyway as Naruto was unconscious about thirty seconds after he stopped fidgeting, his breathing soft and calm for the moment.

_He was racing through a thick forest, one familiar yet somewhat alien at the same time. It was a one of the many forests of the Fire Country but not one Naruto had travelled through outside of missions. The very air inside the stifling woodland seemed to be heavy with anticipation._

_Dark olive leaves fluttered to the ground as he brushed past in his urgency, twigs snapping as they caught on his orange clothing, scratching his tanned skin. He didn't care about the minor injuries, Kyuubi would heal them instantly. Naruto just wanted to find his quarry, beat sense into him and drag him back home to Konoha where they could safely argue with fists or words. That boy had the ego of Jiraiya but the angst of Orochimaru, a bad combination that should never have reared its ugly head to the light of day. Not to mention the affect Itachi had on the driven avenger._

_-Damn you Sasuke-teme-_

_He increased his speed again, burning even more chakra in the race to catch up, hoping he would be in time. His left hand thumped against a thick tree branch as he used it as leverage and pushed off again. A slight twinge shot from his palm through his wrist; somewhere in the back of his mind a little voice made the observation that he must have pinched a nerve. Little did Naruto or Naruto's latent intelligence realised that he would lose all feeling in his left arm in the upcoming titanic battle._

_He could finally see a gap in the foliage, the concentrated light beckoning Naruto to the edge of the strip of forest. He angled towards it and burst into the open with a swish of leaves to land firmly on the stone._

_Naruto was temporarily blinded by the overwhelming brightness from being under the tree cover for so long. The sun beat down upon the open area and white spots continued to obscure his vision. The sound of liquid-like thunder assaulted his ears and he gathered the distance to the edge of the cliff in front of him from the little he could see. Naruto squeezed his eyelids together and shook his head from side to side; a desperate attempt of regaining a semblance of his normal sight._

_There was a dark presence some where across from him, dark and wrong but some how familiar. He wanted to view what this thing was, wanted to know if it had stolen his rival and precious friend from him. The dark chakra flowing about this person was too oppressive to have been Sasuke; the Uchiha he knew didn't harbour such animosity. Naruto felt the subtle shift of the chakra's attention centre on him. It wavered for an instant before the hatred flared and drowned out the hesitancy._

_The blinding whiteness had not left him and Naruto automatically wiped the tears forming because of it. The chakra presence chose that moment to pounce on Naruto, hurtling through the air with great speed befitting a creature with wings. A large shadow appeared in the corner of his compromised vision and Naruto blinked rapidly to try and get it in focus._

The sleep induced fogginess lifted from his brain and Naruto belatedly realised his eyelids were fluttering open and then closing constantly. The fire had died down and the shadows lapped up the visibility of the majority of the cave, so there wasn't much difference in light whether his eyes were closed or not. He threw his chakra all over the underground cavern but reeled it back in when Kakashi's familiar signature remained missing. Naruto mused that the Jounin was probably on the return trip judging from the soreness of his hip from digging into the cold stone while he slumbered.

The young Chuunin needed to get up and stretch his limbs but he didn't want to gather the energy to do that right now. He shifted and the square corner of something hard contained in the pack jabbed the boy just between the upper ribs. Naruto fidgeted again and sighed when the annoying thing refused to stop poking into him. He gave up the idea of being comfortable, choosing instead to gaze at the glowing coals and what was left of the dancing flames.

A sudden chill crept along the blonde's spine, taking its time to engulf each vertebra before moving onto the next one. The sensation was extremely uncomfortable and Naruto was almost squirming by the point when his tail bone felt the cold as well. In fact the teen couldn't move even if he wanted to, for the unexpected phenomenon forced paralysis onto every part of his body. The index finger by his head gave an involuntary twitch as the sight of the cave blacked out to be replaced by a vision. Naruto watched in fascination.

_Moonlight limned the edges of the pale boy prostrate in the soft grass, several shades of darkness shivered in a ring around him underneath the trees. The dark green blades that surrounded his form had a slightly crushed look about them, as if an aura of chakra pressed them against the earth beneath. The atmosphere in the glen had a disturbing surreal quality, like a graveyard, where even the wind was muted in respect for the dead. His attention wavered back to the boy for the presence of the environment seemed to back off, saying the human male was more worthy of his scrutiny._

_The black shirt and full length pants did not hide the slenderness of the boy's build and the light showed the firm muscles through the fabric as his head rested on his cheek. A silent breeze ruffled the long black tresses and a few strands fell across his delicate features. He stared at the boy's soft yet cold expression, but he was ultimately drawn towards his eyes. The daunting scarlet slowly bled away until the irises regained their natural obsidian colour._

The sudden presence of another's hand and shake of his shoulder brought Naruto back to reality. A single blink lost the moonlit vision and he was staring into the concerned eye of Kakashi.

"Naruto."

The boy went to speak but his tongue didn't seem to want to conform at first, but he managed to get words out in a low groan. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Are you all right Naruto?" The former ANBU assisted his student into a sitting position. One of Kakashi's hands remained on the blonde's arm to ascertain the teenager won't suddenly collapse on him.

The young ninja shook his head to rid the lingering dazedness, setting the yellow locks in a soft sway. At the question, the Chuunin noticed the slight trembling in his hands and he mentally took stock of his faculties and extremities. His had regained all movement - that was a major plus - and that cold creepy feeling had vanished from his spine. The one thing that was perplexing the poor blonde was the fact that his heart had been mercilessly pounding within his chest since he realised the pale boy was Sasuke, with no signs of slowing down.

"Naruto?"

Naruto bat an eyelid and turned his head to centre his attention on Kakashi again; he had spaced out and forgot to answer the Jounin's question. The blonde inhaled a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm his heart, which worked for once. "Ah yeah sensei, I'm okay." The boy saw the twitch of a silver eyebrow. He gave a small laugh to lighten the atmosphere. "Geez Hatake it was just a dream. I have them all the time."

Even to Naruto the sound was a little off, it would have definitely been wrong to Kakashi but he didn't comment on the fact. Instead the masked ninja crouched down near the dying campfire and began extinguishing it as cleanly as possible. The Chuunin took the action to mean that they would be moving soon so he set about decamping.

Kakashi sighed inwardly. Something was affecting Naruto badly. It was highly likely the recent mention of the youngest Uchiha had a reason behind it. To tell the truth, Kakashi had been very worried when he had arrived back in the cavern from his scout to discover Naruto in such a stationary state.

His body had been exceptionally rigid and his blue eyes stared at nothing, as if life had suddenly abandoned the young shinobi while he was gone. Naruto's shallow breathing hadn't improved the dead appearance either. The only sign the blonde to show he was alive was when Naruto had made an odd strangled noise in his throat that sounded strangely like "Sasuke". It was then that Kakashi grabbed his shoulder to break the stupor to which Naruto had fallen.

"Naruto put your bag with mine. I'll send them back together."

The blonde dropped his squished pack where requested. He eyed Kakashi. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Yep! Non-stop running until we arrive at the Fire Country border," the Jounin grinned as if he had just won first prize at the lottery, "or at least far away from any pursuing Sound ninja."

Naruto ignored his sensei's erratic behaviour and minute provocation, strangely too exhausted to portray the bouncing ball of energy either. "We'll be in transformation then" he stated, the usual anticipation for the chance to outwit the enemy absent.

"Ee. I'd like us to go in as much as a westerly direction as possible. You're leading Naruto, I'll be the rearguard."

The Chuunin opened his mouth, seemed to think better of what he was going to say, and then changed his mind again to ask a different question. "Can I have Pakkun to follow?"

"Pakkun's chakra would make it easy for the Sound to track us down. We need to use our jutsu altered chakra to our advantage."

"Fine." Naruto thumbed his nose as the Jounin made their packs disappear within summon smoke. "Wanna tell me if there is any Hidden Sound lurking nearby before I start and, I don't know /_say_/, run into them?" he posed with a hint of sarcasm.

"And here I was deluded into thinking that you had gotten better," Kakashi teased.

"Whatever Kakashi-sensei," the boy waved a hand. "I /_know_/ you can't sense them either. They must be using a really good chakra masking jutsu."

"Yeah. My scout revealed a small camp about a kilometre west from here. I'd say ten ninja have been dispatched to search for and eliminate us. At the entry I'll point you in the direction we need to slip past their lines then you've got it from there."

"Yes sir."

"Let's get going." With a last sweep of the cave to make sure they left nothing obvious behind Kakashi retreated into the tunnel, Naruto a step behind.

The Konoha shinobi exited the underground cavern into a cloudless night. The full moon was already high and shedding light like there would never be another hour of darkness, which at the moment was very true. Naruto didn't really need to use his fox vision as the illumination from the bright satellite set the forest awash in a colourless twilight. The shadows able to survive were deeper than ever, beckoning a misstep in their black gloom.

Kakashi raised his uninjured arm to point a finger into the surrounding woods. "We need to go that way."

Naruto sidled up to his teacher and noted the direction he was aiming, which was in the general vicinity between the intense lunar star and the lone spike of a massive tree that towered over its neighbours. The young Chuunin nodded in confirmation that he had the correct bearing and then quickly performed the necessary hand seals for the Hitoku Henge no Jutsu. The orange-red and black fox and grey wolf-dog soon replaced the blonde and Jounin in the small clearing. Naruto bounded off into the undergrowth, bushy tail waving like a small banner and Kakashi right behind him.

It was all smooth sailing at first and Naruto was wondering whether Kakashi hadn't miscalculated the whereabouts of the Hidden Sound shinobi. Then again, it could have all been due to the blonde's good luck and the world didn't want him to get caught, much like the times he was pulling pranks as a little kid. A little voice somewhere in his subconscious scoffed at the optimistic view, hadn't the hyperactive prankster been caught more times than not.

The greenery shot by in a blur as they jumped over, through and around the various dead and living obstacles in their way. Naruto took a chance to slow down and spy over his shoulder at Kakashi just as he entered a gap between two shrubs of what looked like a particularly dense wall of low growing plants. He bumped head first into a hidden log buried in the hedge for his lapse and his vision swam for a second or two. The fox glared at the large and offending piece of lumber before crawling over it, the scratchy branches of the surrounding vegetation scraping through his fur.

His paw suddenly slipped on the log's mossy, slime covered curve, and Naruto tumbled off the other side to land indignantly in the damp dirt and decaying leaf litter. The Chuunin didn't have a chance to orientate the environs when something thin and metal buried itself in the ground centimetres away from his front paws.

_-Huh? A senbon needle-_

Naruto scrambled to his feet and jumped sidewards just in time to avoid three more needles that were aimed where his stomach used to be. His fox senses picked out a person half concealed in a tall bush across from his position, eyes clearly perceiving the glint of metal around her neck. The Chuunin briefly flared his chakra but no human signature registered despite the very obvious fact that a living human being was right in front of him. Naruto noticed the female's covert movements and was able to dodge out of the way. The changed position threw moonlight onto the thing around her neck, revealing it to be a hitai-ate and the blonde-turned-fox needed no more help from good vision to mark the Hidden Sound symbol. Naruto cursed the Sound's concealing jutsus, his luck and his slowness, though admittedly it had only been a minute since he fell off the log.

_-Of all the bloody clearings in this stupid forest I had to fall into one with an evil-_

The Sound kunoichi unexpectedly crashed to the ground, caught by surprise from behind by a large dog landing on her back. Kakashi barked abruptly at the non-moving Naruto and shoved him into the undergrowth again, which the boy translated into a reprimand for not escaping immediately. The blonde didn't bother arguing as several senbon peppered the base of the tree which he had previously been in front of and started running.

Naruto skilfully darted through a rain of shuriken and needles, yet hardly noticing where he was going as a sharp pain blossomed along his side. One of the stars must have sliced him a lovely new wound for the thin senbon could only penetrate flesh not cut it. The young Chuunin maintained a fast speed, refusing to let the injury distract him from getting both of the Konoha shinobi to the Fire Country border.

The silver furred Jounin loped several metres behind the sprinting fox, keeping an eye on their rear for any of the foe they were trying to keep off their tail. He hoped Naruto was paying some attention to where he was leading them; getting lost in enemy territory was not an option. The few smoke bombs and explosive tags Hatake had managed to snag from the female ninja when he had tackled her had been hastily arranged in a trap back near the clearing. With any luck, that and Naruto's erratic weaving dash through the trees had thoroughly lost any pursuers.

The orange fox followed his instincts for the correct path, now tuned to the need to retreat and return to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He distractedly brushed past the foreign vegetation, unaware of the blurriness encroaching on his clear animal vision. The pain of the gash on his flank had faded into a strange numbness rather than increasing to the searing quality because of his strenuous running. Naruto chalked it up to the Kyuubi as he had let most of the guards fall to sustain his actions.

Naruto didn't notice when the scents of the forest entered the obscurity of nonexistent, he was too preoccupied. However, when the rush of wind ripping past his ears and the thud of paws hitting dirt and wood faded into a pressing silence, the shinobi realised something was up but he didn't pause to consider the implications. The fox bounded through the undergrowth, utterly blind in all senses except for sight as Naruto rarely used taste in transformation.

His heart pounded inside his chest, the sound loud and demanding once the outside noises ceased. It throbbed and protested the unaccustomed abuse through which Naruto was putting his animal form. Naruto momentarily prayed for inner strength and endurance as the numbness in his left flank began tormenting him with a sparking pain each time the fox stretched forward for the next foot hold.

_Thwump!_

The black flecked kitsune ricocheted off what felt like the solid trunk of a tree. Naruto cursed his clumsiness and inattention, feeling the sudden impact with the barrier jarring myriad bones as he crashed into the ground. The young ninja scrabbled with his claws to stop his slide backwards but failed. His head cracked against a hard surface and a cloudy haze drifted over his vision. He felt extremely light headed as he tried to regain his feet. Unsteady legs refused to hold any weight and Naruto slumped back to the forest floor. Somehow the adrenaline previously pumping through the Chuunin had fled along with the now interrupted momentum.

A shadow fell across his rapidly tiring form. Naruto instinctively lifted his head towards the thing that blocked the moonlight. The blurry sight didn't help at all as the Chuunin tried to distinguish what approached him, his ebbing chakra unable to sense the presence either. Darkness dragged long, demanding fingers at Naruto's shaky consciousness, begging him to join the coolness of oblivion. The blonde-turned-fox fought valiantly against the hold, certain that giving into the nothingness would result in terrible consequences.

The pain had developed twofold and increasing since it began its physical brand of agony on his vulpine body. Naruto whined deep in his throat; a vibrating, pitiful sound that he would have cringed at making had the blonde been in an uninjured state. As it was the fox boy desperately wanted help, any help no matter who or where it came from.

His vision cleared briefly just as the figure shifted, soft light from the full moon revealing refined features in a white human face and what seemed like lines down each side of the nose. Washed-out black hair cradled shadows around their head, unrestrained to let gravity tumble it straight to their shoulders. There was nothing terrifying about this person, who had none of the expressions he had become accustomed to in all the transformations and guises the teenaged shinobi had worn. A small part of Naruto sighed happily for the lack of aversion and veiled hatred yet another part told him firmly that no one should have such a dead expression.

_-Those eyes... those onyx...-_

A hot prickling sensation, starting from behind his black tipped ears down his spine, washed away all regards of the outside world. Naruto's remaining strength fled with what was left of his sight. His mind was forced away from consciousness into the never ending void.

…TBC…

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**Author's notes:**

So, have I left you with a good cliff-hanger yet? Please let me know your reactions, I know mine, but I want to know yours! lol

Eep! I've just realised how incredibly different HB is from the other stuff I write. I know there are other fics with fox!Naruto but my plot makes it so the story is almost entirely descriptively driven, the thing that I run into tons of writer's block with.

The rating changed to M, which I realise should have been that in the first place. I forgot to up the rating when I redid Sasuke's nightmare in the 1st chapter to make it more graphic. Now I don't have to worry about it when HB gets to one of the violent or suggestive scenes in later chapters. XD

Review please! I really need your help to be able to keep going with this. I'll answer any questions and consider requests for plot bunnies. Previous chapters review replies found at: flighty-designs . livejournal . com / tag / reviews (without the spaces of course)

Last thing: don't we all just hate it when the alerts aren't working. 


	6. Death vs Chance?

**Disclaimer** : I do not own anything recognised from Naruto, just every thing else from my brain and the plot.

**Warning** : I see nothing to warn you about but then again I know the plot -snickers- but Kakashi's back so you get to peek into his brain.

**A/N** : I know long update, my bad, though I hope you guys enjoy this chapter 'cause I had to work real hard to get it past my writer's block. I haven't started the next chapter yet -slaps self- but I promised myself I would finish this fic before my birthday in April. According to my plans I'd say there are only a few chapters left, where you'll get to read the main reason I started HB. -looks around shiftily- You'll like, I think.

Onto the fic!

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**Chapter 6 ( Death vs. Chance? )**  
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The darked haired human slowly twisted on a single foot with his body perpendicular to the ground, carefully balancing his centre of gravity, then purposely guiding the airborne foot to the earth and shifting his weight onto it. For a respite from the strength building kata, he transitioned smoothly into several defensive positions, all the while maintaining the almost painful but steady pace. He was about to begin the fifth set of repetitions when something slammed into his lower back, effectively throwing out the calm atmosphere that had cocooned around the lithe shinobi during the dance.

The momentum would have felled any other human and him as well - had with his skills deserted him - but as always he flawlessly converted the downward force to his advantage. He planted a firm palm into the grass and flipped around to instinctively face the enemy even as his person was devoid of weaponry. The dark shinobi whipped eyes around the glen from his fighting stance to find an injured kitsune failing miserably to stand and then giving up to groggily stare at him from the disturbed dirt.

He blinked. If it were any other creature he would have totally ignored it, but some thing about the fox made him give it more than a cursory glare. The pale boy crouched by the animal and eyed it carefully, assessing the danger to and from it. The creature gave a low whimper, as if wordlessly asking for this human to do some thing about his battered condition. Navy orbs reflected the bright moonlight dully, yet a hint of intelligence snuck through the haze of pain instead of the cunning people normally associated with foxes. That spark did not last long as a shiver shook the furred body and the sleek head fell to the ground in a faint.

He placed a firm hand against the fox's abdomen, careful not to touch the wound there, feeling the radiating heat and rapid pulse throbbing throughout its' form. The skin of the cut had curled back and crusted with blackened blood while the pelt around the opening was matted with the red substance sluggishly seeping from it. The ninja pulled chakra into his finger and pushed it towards the gash, changing its nature so it glowed with the typical green of healing. The small body refused to take the curative energy.

These facts instantly told him that the weapon which did this had been coated in poison. The kitsune was marked for death. "Gokan doku(1)" he spat, eyes narrowing in disgust.

The brunette recognised the signs and symptoms of the toxin used, as it was common enough amongst the Sound-nin who employed such a cowardly method. Not only was gokan doku designed to mess with the senses to incapacitate shinobi, it stopped any healing - natural or otherwise - and caused the victim to fall into a semi conscious state where they had to endure the pain of it slowly killing them.

The pale boy bit the inner rim of his lip as his mind split in two, each half arguing fiercely with the other. One part wondered whether he should finish off the creature and relieve it of future suffering and the other to cleanse the wound of poison. The cold avenger complained about showing any weaknesses and for him to just kill the fox already, but with no one there to fuel the point it quickly petered out. Sasu-kun mentally rolled his eyes as the decision was made and gently picked up the flaccid mass of orange fur. He settled the animal securely against his chest within the circle of his strong arms before jumping into the trees towards his isolated camp.

**.o0o.**

Hatake had followed the blonde relentlessly up until the point where he noticed the imperceptible presence of another's chakra and heard a muffled thump. There should have been no way for any body to get within such a close radius of the former ANBU without using a cloaking jutsu. Kakashi had crept into the foliage surrounding the glen and spied on the events to suss out the situation.

The silver haired man observed his former student with a wary eye. The Jounin was infinitely surprised with the nuke-nin's actions concerning the injured Naruto in disguise. There was nothing he could really do without revealing himself and Kakashi wasn't entirely sure that Sasuke was going to hurt the fox. Despite the empty expression the brunette wore, there had been no malice in his still graceful movements.

Silently and stealthily, Kakashi trailed the teenaged Uchiha so to keep a tab on the whereabouts of his young partner. It was not a long trek to Sasuke's hideout and the Jounin was grateful because surely the boy would discover him soon despite the hitoku jutsu. As Sasuke disappeared into a cave entrance at the base of a cliff, the canine sat on his hunches within a nice dense set of foliage and contemplated his options.

1) He could sneak in and steal Naruto back, but that was foolhardy. He wasn't a medic-nin and the blonde's injuries needed to be taken care of. The Sasuke he had known wasn't a medic either but the Jounin had seen the pulsing green chakra and it gave him some hope.

2) He could wait around until Naruto healed and escaped himself. That option failed the cut as well. He didn't know how long it was going to take, for Kyuubi's chakra had been some how suppressed even when Naruto let his barriers disappear. Also the reason why they had been retreating popped to the forefront of his musings.

Or 3) He could leave Naruto in the Uchiha's care and report back to the Jounin team patrolling the Sound/Fire County border. He'd return as soon as the intelligence they had gathered was sent as fast as possible to the Godaime. The mission didn't always come first in his books anymore but it did come a close second. The blonde should be smart enough to stay put if Kakashi left him some orders.

The wolf-dog panted lightly as he lifted a foot to scratch a grey furred ear. He hoped Naruto would be okay, the fox hadn't been looking so good under the pale wash of moonlight if anyone could tell such from quite a distance away from the subject. Kakashi had been expecting surprises or at least the unusual on their covert mission, but this one took the cake for unexpected events.

Yes the last option made the most sense, disregarding Naruto's wayward tendencies of course. May be they would settle down once he realises it's the Uchiha looking after him. Kakashi rolled his black orbs before scooting off until the cave and its occupants were well outside the boundary of his active senses. It was better to be safe than sorry.

The Jounin popped back into the form with opposable thumbs and grabbed out a writing utensil and a small, blank scroll from the multiple pockets of his vest. He then proceeded to leave explicit instructions that a drugged up blonde boy should understand. Kakashi slipped one of the spiralled chakra charms from the chain of them hanging around his slender neck and attached it to the scroll.

There was no nagging thought whatsoever in the back of his mind that Sasuke would kill the blonde if he found out the fox in his care was Naruto. Everything would be just fine.

**.o0o.**

Sasuke glanced around the dry cave that he called shelter during his solo training away from Orochimaru's main hideout. The Uchiha still refused to call it a Hidden Village for all its purpose of housing Sound shinobi. He navigated around his possessions neatly arranged by the sleeping roll he had prepared before leaving earlier.

The brunette laid the fox next to the extinct fire with care not to jostle the weeping wound. First and foremost the poison infecting the creature's bodily processes needed to be counteracted before it had a passable chance to get better. Sasuke grabbed a couple of the thinner logs from the stockpile he kept by the circle of stones and proceeded to stoke the blazing flames thanks to his signature fire jutsu. A small pot of water was then hung over the flickering fire and left to heat.

The Uchiha glanced at the limp kitsune to make sure he really was doing this. Its' mottled flank heaved in attempts to drag in air - only succeeding in shallow breaths - and muscles sporadically convulsed underneath the orange pelt from the cramps caused by the toxin. An inaudible sigh escaped Sasuke's pale lips as he dragged his pack closer to the prone animal so he could work in comfort.

He knelt on his pale legs as hands absently unpacked the things he would need. Bandages, pieces of ripped cloth, a small metal bowl and the medical pouch Kabuto forced on him every time the boy trained on his own. Sasuke placed the items in the order he would need them on his right, except for the basin which was settled between his knees and the fox's side.

The nuke-nin unzipped the med-kit and pulled a tiny vial from a pouch in the padded linings. The opaque lime liquid was luminescent in the semi-darkness of the cave and made a soft _slishing_ sound when tipped inside the glass. The aesthetics of the thing gave off an ominous aura. It would make everyone who didn't know assume it was a poison instead of an antidote. A Sound trait, deceive at all costs.

Pale fingers unstopped the cork and let two fat droplets splash into the bottom of the bowl before resealing the vial. Sasuke retrieved the pot from the tripod and poured about half a cup of heated water. He picked up the small whisk from the med-kit, proceeding to whip the solution into a frothy state. As soon as the bubbles settled he lightly soaked a wadded cloth strip with the warm, honeydew liquid and gently smeared it against the crusty, blackened wound. The kitsune jerked violently at the contact as Sasuke covered the entire area and pressed firmly, some of the wetness sliding through the fur to pool on the stones, then wiped away the now moistened dried blood.

Uchiha-sama itched to stay those healing hands and let the stupid animal fall to the inevitable fate of death at the end of life. Sasuke sighed and blocked out all thoughts other than those needed to help the orange fox, he really needed to quell those urges until he was back in company where he would need them (namely the snake pit of deception).

He wrung out several solution-soaked rags and overlapped them along the gash, leaving none of it open to the air. Picking a fairly large roll of beige bandage Sasuke untied the loose end and shifted his sitting position so he could manoeuvre the creature more easily. The young nuke-nin firmly wrapped the injury - as well as five centimetres above and below it - with precision, ensuring the wetted pieces of cloth were covered entirely and the bandage wouldn't slip should the fox move.

It took a few minutes for Sasuke to finish and be satisfied with his handiwork then clear the scattered materials back into his pack. Lastly he poured the rest of the antidote into an empty jar and tightly closed the lid.

Sasuke settled on top of the sleeping roll, forgoing the need to wash and change out of his dirty gear since he would just wake up and start another training session. He ran fingers through loose blue-black strands a couple of times as he again stared at his voluntary charge. The orange kitsune had to be the strangest thing that he had encountered since defecting to Orochimaru. He was still wondering why he had decided to care for it instead of letting it die.

Sasu-kun scoffed at his callousness. He had not always been without mercy, after all the Uchiha was a master at disguising his feelings and thus shreds of those 'good' feelings still existed somewhere inside him. The gaze of Sasu-kun swept up and down the small form of the injured beast, whose muscles had quietened down to the occasional twitch.

He remembered the flash of intelligence in the animal's eyes before it succumbed to unconsciousness. Uchiha Mikoto used to tell her youngest son stories of the fox spirits that once freely roamed the Fire Country. It was not entirely implausible - he had learned a great deal about the tailed demons from the snake Sannin - but the fatalistic wound by a shinobi weapon suggested something else. His analytical mind sorted through the short list of possibilities.

The fox wasn't a summoning; they can't be injured. There was a huge chance it was wild and had just been caught in crossfire, as Sound poison renders flesh inedible. If not hunting for food, some malevolent ninja was entertaining them selves by killing the forest creatures. The teenaged nuke-nin never failed to sneer at the men who lowered to killing mindlessly. It was simply pathetic pitting one's self against beings that do not challenge any skills whatsoever.

This reminded Sasuke that there was a camp nearby of young Sound-nin, not age wise but fresh to the ranks of Orochimaru's motley band of rogue killers. They were oblivious to being within a kilometre of the feared Uchiha's secret spot, as he had blatantly observed their coming and they didn't notice a thing. Unfortunately for the fox they weren't so blind to its' passing.

Contrary to popular belief Sasuke did not like to dwell. More importantly Sasuke did not like to dwell on things which the teenager shinobi deemed unnecessary to concern his self. Finally forcing his overzealous genius brain to wind down, the brunette felt his eyelids fluttering closed.

Now without the distractions of helping a creature other than himself, the full body exhaustion of the day's training caught up with him. His chakra was still exceedingly low from the afternoon session and sleep was the fastest way to restore acceptable levels. Sasuke eventually slumbered slightly curled on his blankets and facing the kitsune, entering a blissfully nightmare free rest.

...TBC...

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(1) Gokan: the five senses. Doku: poison / toxicant. 

**A/N** : Yay Sasu-kun is finally here and Naruto is unconscious unfortunately.

I love reviewers XD Reviews and comments are the best motivation and inspirational sources that I thrive on to get these chapters done, so please comment for the next chapter to be finished quicker.

* * *

**Side-note** : Um, I have a favour to ask my lovely readers and reviewers. I've started a new Naruto multi-chapter called Tsuriaichi and I would be eternally grateful if you guys read and review it for me. I'm really nervous about this one as it is a challenge I set for my self. Brief outline: a kakei genkai fic with an OC clan. Hopefully mentioning that there will be NaruSasu in it and the fact I want pairing suggestions from readers will entice you further. Tsuriaichi can be found from my profile. Thanks so much to those who review it. 


	7. Changes to observe

**Disclaimer** : I do not own anything recognised from Naruto, just every thing else from my brain and the plot.

**Warning** : None this time, but you get to see Sasuke and Naruto interaction.

**A/N** : Ever get those months where you have hundreds of assignments? Yeah that's my excuse. Maa, I got this out for my beautiful reviewers and myself. I need a bit of cheering up. The plot's changed a bit since the latest manga chapters but I hope it's for the better. Please be kind and review.

**.o0o.** Time-shift  
**--o0o--** POV-change

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**Chapter 7 ( Changes to observe )**  
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The first thing that came to Naruto's mind was that he felt incredibly sore, like a stampede of bulls had recently trampled all over him without mercy. He wasn't exactly surprised he had no recollection of the events to cause such a sorry state to his body. The Chuunin guessed he had retreated into the depths of his mind to the fox demon's cage to escape living through the pain.

His eyelids seemed to have turned into weights and refused to open, not as if Naruto minded too much. Just the thought of trying to move any body part drained what little energy the teen had recovered. The darkness should have worried him or at least draw from him some sort of reaction. As a shinobi it should have been the rush of adrenaline; as a fox, excitement for the hours of the night.

Currently though, Naruto could not bring himself to care. All he wanted was to go back to the oblivion of sleep and wait out the pain there. He did not know how long it was since becoming unconscious the first time but surely Kyuubi's chakra would have healed his body by the time he woke up again.

Sadly, even the fogginess clouding Naruto's brain refused to allow him slumber. The throbbing of his limbs was a constant on his awareness. Since Naruto was at a state termed half-conscious, fragments of information and memory began manifesting.

Fortunately or unfortunately something cool began wandering against his flushed body. Pain laced up his flank and Naruto mentally winced, he'd forgotten about that injury. His muscles incessantly throbbed.

A bit of coherence noted that the something were actually fingers, which were now gently lifting only his midsection into the air. There was a little jostling but it did not initiate any more pain. A cold wetness was slapped against the area radiating heat to the rest of his limbs. He flinched. Naruto concentrated solely on the soft fingers to try and phase out the pain currently shooting through multiple nerves.

**.o0o.**

Naruto blinked reluctant lids, irises adjusting quickly to the dimness. Wait, he could see. The fox-shinobi struggled to raise his orange head. It took some effort but luckily once up it was easier to move from side to side. He had no recollection of falling asleep but the memory of those heavenly fingers gave him a somewhat content feeling.

Speaking of which, Naruto carefully eyed the area he had been brought to but the place was devoid of life besides his self. To tell the truth the cave looked to be a semi-permanent residence. A few outcroppings of rock had been smoothed and turned into small shelves while the dirt floor was worn down into paths depicting familiar routines. The stones around the campfire - he noticed - hadn't been moved there recently if the ash stains were any indication. Lastly Naruto took in the neatly made sleeping mat and the packs stacked against the earthen wall.

He couldn't see any distinguishing marks to indicate clan, village or country but from the way things were laid out, Naruto bet this person knew all the basics for survival in Rice Field's wilderness. Well they certainly had some sort of medical knowledge by the clean job of the young shinobi's injury. His furred head leaned closer to the bed roll and he breathed deep to catch the scent infused in the material. Sometimes he could sense what other people are like by the smells everyone carried with them.

Navy eyes widened then twitched as he sorted through the scents he was taking in. Naruto wasn't truly surprised by the combination held by this person, since he'd been exposed to various similar ones; no he was now just very, very curious. The easiest scent to pick up though faint, was the familiarity of the forests surrounding Konoha; either his saviour - Naruto did not just think that - had travelled those trees recently or had been born in Fire Country. The next one was the lingering of iron, which usually meant they spent a lot of time near blood; quite understandable if this person was a medic.

What was entirely strange was the human's personal scent. Naruto was bewildered at the gut instinct that he'd met the man before, and yes the boy-turned-fox could tell his saviour was a male. The Chuunin laid motionless and unseeing, head cocked crookedly then sunk down to the floor, while he contemplated the possible answers to the amazing puzzle called 'Name that person by scent'.

Naruto was either utterly lost in thought or extremely distracted as he couldn't help but react when something heavy came down on his shoulders. His head shot up and if that sudden weight hadn't still been there Naruto swore he would have jumped a metre high. As it was, his heart was pounding erratically.

The teen cursed for being caught unaware, he was shinobi damnit. He calmed a tad knowing it must be the person he'd been waiting to meet since waking up coherent. The guy must have noticed the rapid change of states in the fox and removed that warm hand from Naruto's pelt.

Now that he was released the disguised blonde scrambled around on woozy legs to face his carer. Eagerness as well as basic wariness bubbled up from being in the proximity of the source of that strange scent. All thoughts were wiped as Naruto fell back onto his furry rump, stunned.

**--o0o--**

The dark haired nuke-nin slowly slid his kusanagi back into its sheath, which he retrieved from the ground where he had dropped it earlier. A light frown marred his pale lips and creased his brow. The reason behind it was confusing rather than displeasing and had been bugging him all through his sword kata. After a few of hours of making excuses - not that Uchihas used them - Sasuke still had no idea why he had decided to help the black speckled, orange furred fox.

The teen gathered up the items he had brought out with him for his little afternoon training. He grimaced at the memory that the raven had missed a whole morning session. Sasuke was never the one to oversleep - unless he was severely injured of course - but it was encroaching on noon before his bodily functions finally decided enough was enough. The youngest Uchiha could only presume that too much of the Gokan Doku antidote must have seeped into his skin the night before, because one of its ingredients was a powerful sedative to knock the person out until the body recovered from the toxin's effects. Not to mention the point of chakra exhaustion he had pushed his body to the day before.

It was normal for him to stay underground during the middle of day so Sasuke took that time to reapply the solution and rewrap his current charge's wound. Handling a very limp animal had been awkward at first but as with anything, the teen managed to accomplish the job without further injuring the creature. After a quick meal of supplemented trail rations made by Kabuto especially for the raven, Sasuke left the secret semi-residence to train.

Sunlight blared pass the forest canopy to temporarily blind the Sharingan wielder as he stood up from a crouch. The onyx-eyed teen rapidly blinked away the white spots while calculating the time. It was somewhere between late afternoon and dusk. Sasuke double checked there were several kunai into the hip pouch he wore whenever he was in practice garb and slipped quietly into the surrounding forest to hunt.

The fauna seemed rather scarce for this area but the Uchiha didn't wonder the reason. They had probably fled to safer shelter when the Sound-nin set up camp. Flashes of brown and grey streaked into the bushes beneath the hunting shinobi's tree perch and with a soft rustle of leaves Sasuke followed his targets. Those rabbits never stood a chance.

The light had started to fade into inky black by the time the dark haired teen had skinned and prepared the small mammals. He detoured back to his training glen to pick up the stashed equipment then the raven returned to the underground hideout.

All was quiet and nothing had changed since Sasuke had left that afternoon, not that he had expected any different. It was just that the unexpected events and behaviour of yesterday threw him off a little. The Uchiha exhaled heavily. Really how could a severely injured kitsune - who was probably still out cold right now - make him think otherwise.

Sasuke entered the hidden hole in the cliff-face as night descended on the world. The short tunnel and forward area of the cave were easy to navigate without some sort of light after being memorised and travelled so often. Weapon bags were deposited carefully inside the chamber before the brunette felt for the small rock shelf about chest high on the left wall. With the ties of the bound carcasses held securely Sasuke lit the large candle using the flint he kept there.

The flame flickered to life and illuminated half of the abode in an orange glow. The nuke-nin glanced around and immediately spotted the dusky furred occupant who had shifted from lying on its side to its stomach. It was facing away from the entrance so Sasuke couldn't tell whether it was unconscious or awake but to drugged up to notice the human's presence.

He gave a nonchalant shrug. With rabbits and an oiled cloth he used to store meat in hand Sasuke stepped over to the long dead fire and put their dinner down. He glanced back at his unwanted company.

Deep in the pit of his stomach the teen imagined the uncurling of a feeling Sasu-kun hadn't released in a very long time. Of course a hardened Sasuke would deny ever having a mischievous side until such time he could relent from vengeance. Quite surprisingly along side the teasing attitude, trailed the sadistic tendency that Uchiha-sama cultivated for show around Orochimaru.

Sasuke was not a sadist. He considered the thoughts and feelings it induced incredibly pointless. The only reason Uchiha-sama had this front was to keep the lowly and weak ninja away from his presence, which in turn invoked varying forms of respect from other shinobi.

A small smirk flitted across the pale features as the Uchiha crept upon the earthen floor. He deduced the fox's hearing hadn't been restored yet and the laxity of the muscles told of the sedative still running through its system. Sasuke gracelessly dropped a heavy hand onto the creature's back just below the neck. The suddenness startled it and he felt the jerk and tensing underneath calloused fingers. Charcoal irises sparked and silent mirth creased the corners of his eyes. He let the poor thing go with a lingering brush of the coarse pelt.

It was quite amusing to watch the small fox try moving only to fall over, until the dark shinobi caught the creature's startled gaze. Sasuke blinked once, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things but only navy coloured orbs stared helplessly back. He was certain they had flashed light blue for a second.

His earlier thoughts about the kitsune came back to haunt the Uchiha and his wary ninja side became paranoid from his lack of thorough possibilities. The nuke-nin cursed inwardly. In his weakened state he'd forgotten to consider a transformed shinobi. The Sharingan instinct flared instantly.

Sasuke's entire body remained rigid as he worked over the immobile kitsune with his blood limit. He could see minute quaking besieging the defenceless animal, either from fear or the intensity of the infamous Sharingan solely directed at it. A flicker of abnormal chakra caught the Uchiha's attention as he searched near the off-white and orange throat, but other than that nothing about the fox could be said to be abnormal.

A tentative sigh escaped his lips. It would have annoyed him to heal something then have to incapacitate it because of what it knew. That was just an extreme waste of his time and the teen preferred not to do something as unnecessary as killing. Chakra receded from his irises to leave them black and hiding fatigue.

With an imperceptible shrug Sasuke turned from his voluntary charge – missing the emotion-filled gaze following his every move – now that impish impulse had drained way. He reawakened the cold fire and went about cooking the game he had caught.

**--o0o--**

Naruto continued to stare in astonishment. He had never in his wildest imagination – which was outrageously creative – have believed what was happening to him. Here, in his bastardly glory, was Uchiha Sasuke and that he had once again saved the blonde, though he didn't know it.

Passing that short yet fierce session with the nuke-nin's kakei genkai was up with the most nerve-wracking moments of Uzumaki's life. Naruto was almost certain Sasuke would break past the effects of the Hitoku henge. He hadn't realised he had practically stopped breathing or was shaking until the disguised blonde could no longer feel that penetrating stare on his form.

His sharp vision let Naruto pick out details in the poorly lit chamber, observing his ex-team mate while he laboured. Three years had matured the facial features of the raven haired teenager and the same styled blue-black hair was longer. Long gone were the white shorts and blue Uchiha shirt, replaced by long navy pants tucked into calf high sandals and a normal collared black shirt. The Chuunin was surprised the other's family crest wasn't boldly emblazoned on his back but instead as a small, white embroidered outline on the right sleeve.

Sasuke turned from the blazing fire to gather a pack closer and pull out a few items. The shifty movement of his eyes towards the stiff fox indicated that he was still wary of his now conscious companion.

The smell of cooking meat entered Naruto's sensitive nose, making his mouth water and stomach protest its emptiness. A black tipped ear twitched and the Chuunin noticed the lack of proper hearing for the first time. Naruto wasn't completely deaf; it was more like the sounds were on low volume or very far away. He felt rather than heard his hungry belly growl.

The Uchiha must have picked up the sounds coming from the blonde for he looked over. A pale arm stretched out beckoning Naruto to sit near the flames. The tanned teen passed a wary gaze between Sasuke's impassive expression, hand and the cooking meat. Naruto ignored the faint tension in the air to cautiously approach the nuke-nin. The other boy remained motionless so not to scare the fox.

How in the world Sasuke could be harmless yet intimidating at the same was lost to the blonde. This was the person who nearly killed him and ranked S-class under Sannin tutelage yet he seemed so innocuous right now that Naruto really wish he was himself rather than in a fox disguise. He just wanted to talk to the boy but under the current circumstances he knew he couldn't.

Naruto mentally sighed and let his attention be trapped by Sasuke's activities. There was a bowl of meat before his legs while a couple of thin steaks roasted over the fire on skewers. The Uchiha observed the eager gaze the fox was giving the rations. He offered a small raw chunk from the bowl to it. The human-turned-fox gawked at the open palm; remembering the first time Sasuke presented him with food while incapacitated.

He sniffed it to check for contaminants and then abruptly turned his nose up at it. Naruto might current be in animal form but that does not mean he'd willingly eat meat raw when the rest of it was getting cooked. He discreetly eyed the Uchiha for his reactions. Damn, still expressionless, though the Chuunin thought he detected a trace of emotion in those black orbs.

Sasuke must have gotten the hint for the raw chunk returned to the bowl and he retrieved a ready skewer. Naruto's mouth watered at the sight and smell while the Uchiha wielded a kunai to cut the meat into manageable strips. Sasuke nonchalantly proffered a piece between his fingertips to the fox and this time Naruto happily accepted the warm food. The muted form of a soft snort from the raven had the blonde internally grinning with nostalgia.

Naruto ate heartily from the pale boy's hands, dissipating the feeling of the famished. Three steaks later the disguised Chuunin licked his chops and settle to drink from the container Sasuke had at sometime during the dinner gotten for him. A small smirk caught the nuke-teen's lips as he observed the animal quite sloppily lap at the liquid.

The orange-black fox sent a questioning gaze after Sasuke's retreating back but was soon appeased when the boy only grabbed a couple of bags he hadn't before noticed from the entrance then took up a spot on his sleeping roll.

Naruto flinched when the Uchiha retrieved several edged weapons from the neck of the sack. He half expected the whistle of air passing by those blades as they sought to end his life because the Sharingan-user knew his masquerade. Instead Sasuke went about the harmless motions of cleaning the equipment and sharpening the ones that did not glint with a razor edge. Naruto let the scraping of metal fade into background noise as he did the only thing he could do at the moment.

He really didn't know what to think of the person in front of his eyes. The one person he had called best friend and brother, the main source of his motivation. Naruto had heard what the Sound-nin said about what Uchiha Sasuke had become when he had eavesdropped at the hotel.

_Disrespectful while apathetic._

_Cunning._

_Callous._

_Dangerous with a deadly intent._

_Walking the line between monster and human._

_Uchiha-sama, a shinobi to be feared._

Nevertheless, the blonde continued to have trouble reconciling that description to the pale boy who had taken in and was healing a worthless, injured fox. Sasuke had never been easy to figure out and Naruto hadn't wanted to know while they were young.

But the defection of the Uchiha at the same age of his eldest brother managed to instil a hidden introspection into Naruto. Uzumaki endeavoured to find maturity in his training with Jiraiya; for there was no way that the raven nuke-nin would bother fighting with a childish ninja. That didn't mean Naruto lost his optimistic point of view on life, it was just veiled with better wisdom than his twelve-year-old self.

"Why don't we come out more often Sasuke? It's stifling in Sound."

The pale teen shrugged a shoulder at the unseen mutterer's question, the smooth track of the waterstone(1) against the weapon's edge remaining in constant motion. It was as if they had had this conversation before and the voice knew the answer.

Extreme shock passed over the fox-boy's eyes and tension grabbed his body. Wasn't this the real Sasuke? The concept of experiments crossed into his vague thoughts. Naruto immediately expected the hardened Avenger fully dressed in Sound getup complete with purple ass-bow to step out from the shadows. A few minutes ticked by and still no third party.

Naruto minutely relaxed his muscles one by one with the realisation that they were going to remain alone. Either Sasuke's going crazy or, or Orochimaru... The Chuunin really didn't want to finish that sentence and went with the former. Sasuke referring to himself in third person was simpler to accept even as foreign as it was, than something to do with the manipulative snake Sannin.

The Uchiha losing his mind brought a hollow sensation to his stomach. Naruto wouldn't be able to have any of those satisfying verbal fights with his once rival or feel the overloading rush of adrenaline that only combat with Sasuke could bring. His heart squeezed a little painfully in his chest over the blonde's musings.

Movement on the behalf of the Uchiha pulled Naruto from his introspection and into human-watching. Sasuke was now in a sitting position with ankles crossed, the sharpened weapons no where in sight. From the way his hands were placed the blonde knew the other boy was settling into a period of meditation.

The fox gingerly got to his feet and padded cautiously over to the dark haired nuke-nin. He laid down parallel to the pale legs, breath a little short from being so close the Uchiha. Naruto still wasn't sure of this Sasuke's attitude and what he was capable of. Nevertheless the blonde felt encouraged by the lack of protest and chanced a peek at Sasuke's ebony-framed face and if he could, he would have frowned with curiosity.

The quirk of a dark brow was the only indication of the pale teen's thoughts before all expression was wiped into an indifferent state, clearly reminiscent from their Genin days. Those deadly hands slowly formed five seals and then returned to their place on bent knees. Naruto watched as Sasuke's obsidian eyes closed and his breathing regulated.

The disguised Uzumaki leant the back of his head against a shin, wanting to be near to his ex-team mate's warmth. The soft exhalations coming from above lulled Naruto into contentment and he slipped into slumber until Sasuke finished his meditation.

**. . . T B C . . .**

* * *

(1) A waterstone is Japanese sharpening stone. 

**A/N** : I had to add in Sasuke scaring Naruto; my mind thought it was funny at the time I wrote it. But Naruto gets a chance for revenge later.

So how was the longer chapter? Got any ideas about the plot? I thrive on reviews and would love to hear what you guys think.


	8. A Kitsune Discovery

**Disclaimer** : I do not own anything recognised from Naruto, just every thing else from my brain and the plot.

**Warning** : Slight spoilers (308, 309, 354) but nothing blatant.

**A/N** : I'd just like to give a huge thank you to HoshitheHorse, your review motivated me for three-quarters of this chapter. Also I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and would have to be my favourite so far.

**-o-0-o-** Mind-shift

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**Chapter 8 ( A Kitsune Discovery )**

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Since taking in the kitsune, and especially throughout dinner, he couldn't shake the feeling that something about the orange-black creature was off. It was one of those shinobi traits the Uchiha had trained endlessly to have as an automatic instinct. He'd admit to never have been in contact with a fox before so he couldn't be certain, but the high amount of intelligence he saw in those navy irises just didn't seem normal.

Sasuke's analytical mind caught the cautious way the fox approached the raw meat and silently demanded the cooked portions. Nor did his observant eyes miss the flinch when he had pulled out his dulled weapons to clean. He came to the conclusion to find out how intelligent the animal was while he worked diligently with the waterstone.

Possibilities intrigued the sharingan-wielder. He remembered the awe from his childhood and more recently the respect Sasuke gained when faced with the nin-cats acquainted with the Uchiha clan. A familiar would certainly be an unexpected but valuable asset in battle. The teen had seen battles turned with the presence of an animal or summon. The contract with the snake clan was handy to have but extremely worthless if one was devoid or incapable of using chakra.

Uchiha-sama squashed any overzealous thoughts pertaining to keeping the injured fox around even if it wasn't useful. In reality Sasuke was powerful. He knew that it was only a matter of time and circumstance before Orochimaru became obsolete in his carefully laid plans.

His thoughts turned back the jutsu he would use to examine the mind, as he was still wary of using it. The original technique had been classified for interrogation purposes only and under strict supervision for it was quite risky to the user and target. Sasuke had taken the jutsu to refine it and make it his own. He had managed to lessen the danger but it came in the drawback of the minds being linked in a two-way connection. If the target was knowledgeable about mind jutsu then they could use it to gain information from the one who was attempting to do the same to them.

Sasuke had performed his newly personalised jutsu twice since its completion, and only on humans at that. An animal's mind was certainly a different matter and the raven genius would be nothing but cautious. By the time the young Uchiha had finished sharpening his ever reliable shinobi tools, the amount of conviction needed to harden his resolve had been sufficiently gathered.

He cleared his sleeping area and prepared himself by taking a mediative position. There had been an underlying current of trust coming from the fox since being awake and had piqued Sasuke's curiosity, enough for him to wait and watch for the orange furball's next move.

It took a shorter time than the raven had originally estimated for the creature to slowly move towards him and lie down. A brow had risen at that and inside the Uchiha teen wondered again about strangeness of the kitsune. In fact it made the execution of the mind jutsu easier.

Five seals then Sasuke began sinking inwards to centre his mind. The awareness of coarse fur brushing against his leg caused a small smirk to flitter across the pale boy's features. This jutsu required uninterrupted eye or skin contact. Yes, the fox was making it very easy.

**-o-0-o-**

There was a brief impression of falling before Sasuke opened lids to regard a familiar mind-environment lit brightly but not harshly by an unknown source. It had taken a large amount of time meditating to get it appearing and organised this way and Sasuke was extremely proud of his inner achievement.

He was comfortably seated in a 6 tatami room (1), decorated simply in dark woods and pale blues. The walls either side of the teen were elegantly painted fusuma, the left depicting a sleek black dragon amongst crimson flames and the right one displayed a group of tiger cubs tumbling over each other. There was a short bookcase lining the third screen stocked full of scrolls and books ranging from jutsu to arcane legends, the visual mental form of the young Uchiha's knowledge.

Sasuke knew what lay beyond the two fusuma but they weren't relevant at the moment to why he had withdrawn. The interesting thing about his modified jutsu was that to stabilise and make it less dangerous, one had to delve inwards rather than outwards to reach the connection linking to the victim's mind.

The dark haired shinobi focused his attention on the inconspicuous scroll placed on the low table before him. Another fact he had noted on the previous tests was that the item anchoring the link in his mind could identify something about the target. This third time was no different, though how a fox could relate to a scroll could only be guessed at.

He took a moment to check the strength of the mental barriers the shinobi always had active against intrusion. Satisfied everything was in place Sasuke put aside his doubts of using this jutsu, pride bolstering his confidence. Taking a deep breath the Uchiha placed his hand over the object and let the connection pull him into the other's domain.

**-o-0-o-**

The nuke-nin was aware of standing in a long hallway, the presence of stone walls to the front and back heavy even in the darkness. The slow dripping of liquid echoed through the corridors as Sasuke realised there was some illumination coming from his right. Since there was no other indication to where the fox's mental form lie, the teen walked towards the glow. It grew stronger until the sickly light revealed a place that could have passed as the inside of one of Orochimaru's research laboratories.

Many side passages opened onto the one Sasuke traversed but he did not deviate. The visual form of the mind was a treacherous existence, one Sasuke knew from his own experience and those of the snake Sannin's teachings. A low rumbling rolled towards the raven, more vibration than sound and with a dark presence accompanying it.

Curious Sasuke followed the tension to find the source, a side hallway spilling out into a huge antechamber. The far wall was completely taken up by floor to ceiling bars, a paper seal securing the massive doors shut. The youngest Uchiha halted in the middle of the floor facing the gates and all he could see beyond the barrier was shadows.

An abrupt interruption broke the thick silence.

"Who are you?"

The raven gathered himself to meet this currently unknown conscience. Battle ready instincts tingled for a clash of the verbal kind, sly and demanding.

"Someone of no import."

There was a pregnant pause before the growling began again, curiosity lining the voice. "Why are you here?"

"I came to converse." Sasuke did not bother to lie.

"With me?"

Had he less control he might have given in to the urge to roll onyx eyes. "You're occupying this mind, are you not?"

"Yes, I am."

The Uchiha waited patiently, saying nothing, it was the choice of this individual to carry their conversation further. A willing participant gave more answers unknowingly than having them forcefully pried loose.

When the voice sounded again Sasuke could tell it was faintly amused. "I'm intrigued. Speak with me then."

It was a test. He knew the entity was gauging its opinion against what he said now. It was still wary, a predator's instinct. The cautious subtly he used with Orochimaru and Kabuto, Sasuke thought, would get him no where and fast.

"Why are you caged?"

"Ask the one who created the seal." It was petulant, like it was still bitter about the fact. "I can't fathom the paths a human mind takes nor do I wish to."

Sasuke refused the smirk that wanted to surface. Those willing never disappoint.

"I didn't ask for their reason, I want what you believe."

The undeniable confidence laced through that statement must have pricked the being's ire and raised defences.

"Who are you to presume I would tell you anything?" it snapped back.

The nuke-nin let out a small sigh as if he was calming himself to deal with a stupid person. "I am no one of consequence to you," he repeated, "but you have a seal and it interests me."

This creature was in no way stupid, Sasuke knew that. Hiding his true motives under other truths and misinterpretations had become an irreplaceable skill for the dark haired shinobi. Appearances were everything for thorough planning to execute successfully. He had counted on the bluntness and sincerity of his few words to put it off balance and it had. The youngest Uchiha also knew, however, that the usefulness of the tactic was ending as the entity would unvaryingly enter with its own objectives.

"Would you remove the seal if I reveal what you want to know?"

The question had been growled softly, non-threateningly and almost imploringly, trying to coax the human to the deal through their compassionate nature. Too bad for the entity that Uchiha Sasuke was one of those that did the manipulating, rather than be the one manipulated. The creature had a seal for reason and its continued concealment while partaking in conversation did not help its cause.

"There is always a price to be paid."

Everything about the raven remained impartial, even though this wisdom he was intimate with. Sasu-kun's voice might have held a tiny tremor but the nuke-nin was experienced at façades. The being remained silent for it knew to speak now could be detrimental to what it could get from the human later. Cunning was always said to breed patience. Additionally it was another test, this time one of Sasuke's own.

"Not everything is as it seems. Am I right, demon?"

Any other person would have felt the beginnings of unease from speaking as such to a demon but the raven teen almost revelled in facing one as an opponent, even in words. He was satisfied to discover using his mind jutsu to ascertain the injured fox's intelligence was not a waste of time. A challenge was one of the things that interested and excited the pale teen the most.

There was a shifting beyond the veil of darkness and Sasuke's piercing gaze focused on an area near the bottom of the cage front. The indistinct form of a fox sat against the cage bars, thrice as tall as the human before it and an intimidating aura crowding behind it.

"You're perceptive." Sasuke made an evasive grunt and held strong against the fox's stare. A conniving grin slowly bared a sharp white fang. "But so am I. You're not being truthful either."

So the demon had noticed some of the effects of the jutsu. However it was not experienced enough with this kind of ninjutsu to bypass his mind wards and gain direct access. The young shinobi let the next smirk encompass his lips.

"How shall I remedy your fears, Demon-_sama_?" came the mocking reply.

The entity chuckled lightly. "As I said before, you fascinate me for a human." It paused for just a moment to consider exactly what he wanted the boy to provide. "I want to know all of you" the demon purred out, its tone low, husky and bordering on seductive.

"All of me?" Sasuke repeated, deadpanning.

The teen understood the true meaning of what the fox requested and it did not want his body as a new container or in a sexual context. No one but himself knew of his secret and, the raven was loath to share for it was one of his greatest accomplishments to date. Nonetheless compromising in certain situations and deftly manoeuvring in the background to get what he wanted was a lesson Orochimaru inadvertently taught him. With a last inward sigh, he agreed with conditions.

"A piece for a piece, demon. No less. No more."

An impressed laugh burst from the demon. "You'd do well as one of my kind."

There was no point beating around the bush - something the pale ninja detested - at this stage. Sasuke used his crisp, authoritative voice. "What do you control?"

"Sharp. I am but a spirit with a seal," the fox replied with pseudo wistfulness, and then it gave an amused snort. "Chakra, dear human, is all I have."

The answer was quite informative in Sasuke's opinion and adequate enough for him to show this side of his secret. He sent a silent command along the jutsu connections to his own mind-centre.

"**Hello Kitsune-san."**

The young voice sounded from somewhere near Sasuke's navel. They stepped out from behind the larger figure, a soft smile lighting the revealed features. Sasuke let the dark headed child's petite hands clasp his own left one without batting an eyelid. Sasu-kun stole a quick glance at the older raven before speaking to the caged creature.

"**You're not like I thought a demon would be"** he said with naïve honesty.

"Well, well, well." A glint entered the fox's eyes as it gazed at the eight-year-old Sasuke dressed in t-shirt and shorts. "You're certainly a surprise."

The child tipped his head, obsidian eyes and mouth creased with a small frown. **"Kitsune-san?"**

"Who told you of demons?"

At this Sasu-kun smiled again, for the fox was talking with him rather than at him or just to aniue. **"Kaasan, Aniki (2) and the creepy snake-man."** Sasu-kun's nose scrunched in dislike when he mentioned Orochimaru.

"Do you not fear me?" the demon-fox hid its surprise and blatant interest beneath a cool exterior.

"**Aniue (3) says not to be scared of people or things just because we don't understand them."**

Sasu-kun looked up at his older form and grinned delightedly when Sasuke gave him a small nod. The teenaged shinobi returned his attention to the cage.

"Some wise words, human." The compliant was meant to induce overconfidence and undermine the human's dominance of the conversation.

Sasuke just shrugged carelessly. "I observe. I learn. I apply."

Irritation crept into the being's semi-relaxed form. It must have been ages since the demon sparred words with a worthy opponent and it did not like having little influence. The fox's expression suddenly lit with devious intent.

"Ask me what you will but choose carefully," it paused to savour the moment, "for I know there is only one other."

They had finally arrived at the crux of why he was here and Sasuke was enjoying every minute of this encounter. "Whose is the conscience you share mind-space with?"

"A human."

Dark laughter issued from the fox-demon who was utterly entertained by besting the boy on the last round.

There was no movement or reaction on Sasuke's part to indicate how the vague answer affected him. In truth the raven genius suspected the creature would hand over minimal details to satisfy the deal they had made. It was a contest of wills between two cunning individuals after all.

He was not fazed in the slightest and initiated the secondary plan concocted upon discovering the demon in this mind. The commands conveyed were strict and their acknowledgement was a curt 'done' and a burst of excitement along the jutsu connections.

"**I see that a fox can not pass the chance to screw one over."**

The brusque observation and another's presence served as a quick dampener on the demon's mirth, proving that their mere existence could command anyone's attention. The spirit took time his gaze to rake over the cloned form in a gi and loose trousers, smirking when he recognised the irises gazing back at him.

"Ah, you're of the Uchiha. Now I know what you are, I'll congratulate you on an impressive growth this young." A low rumbling pulsated throughout the chamber, the fox undoubtedly the epicentre of the mounting tension that was previously ignored. White fang flashed, black orbs closing briefly. "I wonder whether you have mastered some of the powers of that accursed Sharingan you wear so blatantly."

Sasuke let the words spouted by demon since the revealing of Uchiha-sama to seep in for a moment. There was a lot of information those three sentences, if one was knowledgeable on the subject it just breached.

"You know of the Sharingan?" he asked flatly.

It snorted and looked down conceitedly at the human. "Your forsaken ancestry is not unknown to me."

"That knowledge…" the young shinobi was not one to trail off, but he countered it strongly and certainly. "It would make you undoubtedly _Kyuubi no Kitsune_."

"What of it?" it sneered, at ease with the lead of the conversation currently in its possession.

"**Haughty for a creature shackled to a mere human."** The nonchalance present in Uchiha-sama's tone did not detract from the incredibly intimidating vacant stare he sent the demon.

"You're not immune" it waved a giant paw indicating the area outside the cage, "prancing around his mind."

Sasuke's expression was smug, looking reminiscent of the cat that just caught the annoying bird and stole the bucket of cream. "Neither are you." The demon was quiet, obviously contemplating its limited options and hating the dark haired boy who knew it. "Tell me the name of this subconscious."

"So you can kill him?" the fox titled its muzzle, scoffing. "I refuse to die."

"**Stop toying with Kitsune-san, aniue."**

The demon's head snapped away from the two older Uchihas at the child's raised interjection. It must have been really distracted to have not noticed when the brat had left Sasuke's side, but now he was by the wall on the other side of the cavernous chamber.

"You found them?" Sasuke asked, glancing over his shoulder to his more innocent self, who lifted small arms in uncertainty.

A petite hand flicked out to indicate something. **"I found a door."**

The sealed fox was indignant at the child's terminology. "Toying?" it snarled.

Sasuke didn't bother reacting, preferring to leave the demon in the capable hands of Uchiha-sama, whom was more than fine with the idea. Uchiha-sama rested haunting crimson eyes on the fox spirit. The mind was an abstruse place but the presence of chakra and depth of its strength could be felt. Uchiha-sama drew upon his personality's nature which - merely as an aura - could induce heart pounding fear. He tapped the well of chakra residing within Sasuke's body and let it condense around his mind form, pushing solidly against the cage.

The effect was almost immediate for the demon was pure chakra. It could feel the stunning malice the energy was fuelled by and it hissed out. "Chakra more sinister than -"

"Save it fox" Sasuke cut across the creature, his back already facing it and disregarding the actions and dark presence of Uchiha-sama.

The demon would not submit willingly without a last rebellion. "Insolent human."

The words were lingered unheard by the young nuke-nin as his attention centred wholly on Sasu-kun and his discovery opposite the fox's cage. Sasuke halted by the raven child, eyeing the inconspicuous door separating them from whoever or whatever was on the other side.

"You haven't been through yet?"

At this, Sasu-kun's gaze flickered to the dank walls lining the chamber. **"Don't like the look of this mind-space."** The child stared endearingly at Sasuke. **"I waited for you. Anything could be behind the door."**

The shinobi held out his hand for the other to claim, too accustomed to his younger personality's undeveloped instincts to be surprised. Together they gravitated to the portal and the older one twisted the knob, pushing inwards.

The door swung open silently to reveal the space beyond. Sasuke hadn't really expected anything but he would have never guessed the mind-environment to appear as a messy bedroom. It was vastly different to the sewer-like cavern holding the Kyuubi at their backs. Now seeing there was nothing scary, Sasu-kun pulled the pale nuke-nin over to the lump on the occupied bed and grinned.

"**Sugoi anuie, it's him."** The child whispered so not to wake the conscience.

Dark irises flitted back to the door as he muttered to himself. "I see, so he was your secret power all along."

Sasu-kun raised gentle fingers and brushed back the blonde fringe falling into the other's tanned face.

"It's hard to believe that something like that existed inside you, Uzumaki Naruto."

The nuke-nin breathed lightly as he was assaulted with several images of them barely Genin. Sasuke signalled the eight-year-old to move away from the bed, squatting down to the child's level when Sasu-kun reappeared at his side. They both kept to soft voices as Naruto's level of awareness in his own mind was uncertain.

"Dobe shouldn't have hidden this from me."

A forlorn smile quivered on Sasu-kun's lips. **"We won't have to hurt him, will we aniue? I like Naruto."**

"No we won't." He ruffled the child's dark locks and smirked, leading Sasu-kun back to Uchiha-sama, who was standing impassively outside the door. "But I'm not going to make it easy for him either."

Uchiha-sama stepped closer to the pair. **"Let's see how well Uzumaki can deal with us."**

**. . . T B C . . .**

* * *

**Footnotes:**

(1) 6 tatami room – the size and layout of the room is equal to 6 tatami mats

I hope I didn't confuse anybody with Sasu-kun's language but these 2 are to help clear things up.

(2) Aniki (elder brother) – how Sasu-kun refers to Itachi

(3) Aniue (honourable older brother) – how Sasu-kun refers to Sasuke

**A/N 2** : The next couple of chapters have my creative drive stalled so I'm looking for at least 10 reviews for motivation, more will make me try to finish it within the month. Knowing the kind of ideas my readers are forming - like a note of where you think the plot is going or what Naruto/Sasuke's actions could be - and what is liked about the story is really helpful to my writing process.


	9. Personalities and Orders

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognised from Naruto, just every thing else from my brain and the plot.

**A/N**: Sorry guys for making you wait so long. This chapter was one of the harder ones to write and I have severe writer's block. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, you guys are awesome and they really did help motivate me to finish this chapter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Chapter 9 (Personalities and Orders)**

He knew it would happen but it was still disconcerting to experience the sensation of falling upwards as Sasuke returned from his mind-space. The youngest Uchiha released the jutsu connecting him to the injured fox and it didn't surprise him one bit when tiredness swept through him as his body ached from exhaustion. In addition to the mind jutsu consuming a large amount of chakra during contact, Sasuke had not given his chakra levels time to replenish after reduced them to half strength during training. Truthfully, if Sasuke kept going at this rate he'd kill himself from chakra depletion by the end of the week.

The teenaged shinobi carefully shifted from his position to lie down, not bothering to wriggle under the top blanket. His lithe body instinctively curled around the fox now situated near his stomach and delicately draped an arm over the animal in what could be called a protective gesture. Had Sasuke been less tired a small smirk might have made it through the boy's mask, but as it was he had no energy. It was totally unexpected to discover that the wild fox he had decided on a whim to nurse back to health was actually his ex-team mate and once best friend in disguise.

Sasuke didn't know whether it was fate or just weird coincidence the boy was once again in the position of saving Naruto's life. The orange animal sprawled by his side shifted in its' sleep, moving into the warmth provided by the human. Now that the nuke-nin knew who he was dealing with, he wasn't going to waste this chance to play with the blonde's mind. He wouldn't go about it maliciously, those thoughts rested only with Uchiha-sama and Orochimaru's games, ones he hoped to be rid of forever once his revenge was achieved. This was a chance to let Sasu-kun to have a share in the spotlight he so often had to hide from. It had been a long time since Sasuke had the opportunity to just be himself.

Well as close as he could be considering the other two personalities he was keeping in his head. The brunette had not gone insane. He was quite aware of how and when the identities of Uchiha-sama and Sasu-kun had come into being. And, always an Uchiha, Sasuke had his reasons. It was all he could do to protect his true self.

He was not ignorant of the Uchiha clan's secrets. He had seen the scrolls under the temple; had read them one more time by firelight before he prepared to leave for his current teacher. The blood carrying the sharingan really was a cursed blood to have. Not everyone in the clan was able to activate it and was probably the only thing that had let them live in prosperity for so long.

Sasuke knew the knowledge of power the snake sannin so desperately coveted was hidden deeply within the clan's hidden vaults. In Orochimaru's eagerness to have the legendary sharingan within his clutches he discounted the fact the thirteen-year-old just might have information he could use to further his own demented goals. The boy was almost glad the old shinobi overlooked that when he first arrived because he was certain Orochimaru would have been able to manipulate anything from him. Now the old man couldn't get Sasuke to lift a finger unless the sharingan-wielder wanted to.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The young shinobi would not make the same mistakes as those who came before.

Uchiha-sama was the product of much conditioning. He was the avenger for his family, the tool and body for Orochimaru, was the side of Sasuke that had the ability to kill without remorse. Uchiha-sama was the coldness and hatred made manifest. That side, that personality was the part that developed the detachment and disregard which came with the prolonged use of the sharingan. Uchiha-sama was a true shinobi by definition, for he lacked the emotions said to hinder.

It was this personality everyone associated with Oto feared - and apparently, now the nine-tailed demon hated - in the sannin's next vessel. Most who meet Sasuke when he's not in one of his apathetic moods never encounter Uchiha-sama as he could leak the other's malevolent aura at will and never more than necessary to bring them into subservience. The only times Uchiha-sama was allowed to usurp his body was while dealing with the more despicable shinobi who had power the avenger could not ignore.

To every extreme there must be an opposite, balance is a crucial factor in life. This was where many people failed in their search for true power.

Sasu-kun was the remnants of the innocent boy who didn't want to die as all his relatives had and whose simple nature was just another side of the shinobi called Uchiha Sasuke. The child sheltered the more benevolent emotions to rival Uchiha-sama's negativity. It was another protection, to leave his prominent personality as neutral ground and void of intense emotion.

If Sasuke was honest with himself, Sasu-kun was also the embodiment of the child he wished he could have continued to be. The day he woke up in the hospital all those years ago and every day after it, Sasuke had to face the harsh reality of being without family, without a member of the clan making him laugh or watching him in the streets of the Uchiha district. He had bottled up and hidden the last of his innocence behind mental walls before blindly throwing himself headlong into training and catering to vengeance.

Sasuke was brought back from ruminating about his two created personalities when fingers brushed against something cool and definitely not fur. The pale shinobi was idly amused at the fact that his hand had been stroking the fox next to him on its own violation. The pads of his fingers traced over the surface of the interruption and along the smoothed edges of a flat sphere. What sparked his interest though was the spiralling pattern engraved on the sides and the textured feel of metal. Dexterous digits followed the curl of line to the top, finding it attached to a length of sturdy cord. This no doubt was the source of that abnormal chakra hanging around Naruto's neck the sharingan had spotted earlier.

The nuke-nin left an examination of the charm for now as he couldn't keep his eyelids from drooping any longer. He'd check it tomorrow as well as how he was going to treat the fox who was incidentally his ex-best friend. His thoughts drifted and slowly eased into unconsciousness.

Naruto woke up to feelings of contentment caused by the warm hand gliding along his body. A quiet huff of a sigh left him as he leaned into the gentle touch. They trailed up further along his ruff and scraped over the spiral charm where they paused. The appendages seemed to finger the item absentmindedly while the pusedo-fox secretly missed the long, soothing rub of Sasuke's hand. The other remained in a lethargic state so Naruto assumed the brunette was not in a suspicious mood, which was very unlike the pale ninja he knew.

The motion stilled, and from the depth and length of Sasuke's soft exhalations, the blonde believed the dark haired boy well and truly caught in an exhausted sleep. As much as he didn't want to disturb the comfortable peace settled around them, Naruto had a pressing need to get outside this cave. Nature was calling.

Trying his hardest not to wake the Uchiha the speckled fox squirmed from beneath the warm arm draped across his midsection. When the nuke-nin continued to nap Naruto gingerly walked towards the exit with what would have been a triumphant grin were he in human form. The bandages irritated the chuunin no end, the body heat being trapped effectively inside the heavy cotton so sweat formed patchily under his thick pelt.

On his journey into the bushes closet to the cavern Naruto noted that the opening was only a crack in the base of the cliff face. The vegetation was quite dense in this area and the blonde shinobi was impressed, well since he knew he wouldn't have found such a good location for a secret hideout. The transformed human supposed the cover and source of water - he could smell the tang of it nearby - was why Sasuke made camp here.

Naruto made sure he staggered into a thornless mass of leaves and then relieved himself.

The chuunin was reminded harshly his was still seriously injured when pain shot through his flank when he accidentally pulled the wound. Naruto was surprised that his ex-team-mate had rudimentary healing skills, if he could go by what he'd seen so far, for Sasuke had never been inclined towards anything but strength before. Although the blonde supposed the Uchiha realised basic first-aid wouldn't be enough to survive while working towards his ambition.

He was thankful nonetheless for whatever Sasuke did to neutralise the poison that had laced those weapons. It seemed to be working fairly quickly, not as fast as he was used to but at least he wasn't incapacitated. Somehow the demon's chakra wasn't able to negate the substance and was now only able to slowly heal the inflicted wound. Due to the limitation, Naruto guessed it would take a few days longer than normal to recover. Three days at worst, he hoped.

A hard breeze rustled the underbrush, bringing with it scents and echoes from the north. Naruto sniffed deeply when he noticed familiar scents riding the wind, turning his head to where it was coming from, over there beyond the scrubby tree that looked - funnily enough - like Gaara's gourd. He set off as quick as the gash allowed without aggravating it. The blonde didn't want to be gone from Sasuke's side for too long, he worried what the boy would do should he find the kitsune missing.

The spiralled metal nestled against his throat steadily warmed against his pelt, indicating one of its brothers was nearby and activated. It took the better part of five minutes but Naruto eventually discovered the scroll and paired charm. The teen could also smell the lingering differences between Kakashi and Ginookami and was betting the older man was covertly laughing at his predicament. The blonde would have liked to release the henge - even just for a little while - but with the current state of his chakra levels there was no way he would be able to perform the technique again before he returned to the sleeping Uchiha.

With care Naruto dug at the partially buried scroll, flipping it out of the hole with a paw. The fox-disguised-blonde hooked a single claw through the loose bow holding the paper closed and to which the charm was hanging off. A rough nudge of a black nose forced the scroll to unravel across the ground and Naruto positioned himself where he could read in comfort.

The young shinobi couldn't help but roll his eyes at the almost cheery attitude conveyed by the missive. Kakashi really didn't have a sense of propriety at times. At least Naruto knew his superior wasn't worried that Sasuke would turn around and murder the orange fox all of a sudden. Essentially Hatake had assigned him a simple side-mission while the man waltzed back to their home country's border to report and then come back for the injured chuunin. Honestly really easy, all he had to do was avoid being discovered by a sharingan-wielding genius boy who used to be his team-mate. See simple.

Naruto shook his white-speckled furry head in resignation while shifting about, loosely re-rolling the scroll back into the hollow. The next part the blonde felt would be one of the things he would never get used to when in fox-form, using his hind legs to shove dirt over the thing. Once he was sure no one would notice the upturned earth and start investigating, Naruto took off for the cave he would call home for the next few days.

Several emotions clashed inside his heart whenever the young shinobi thought about his new mission or of the person involved. Uchiha Sasuke would be the one healing him, the one feeding him, the one tending to his needs and constantly in his presence, all without knowing who it really was. The young shinobi was really - _really_ - happy to see his friend again, glad to be basking in the way Sasuke could some times make him genuinely calm and other times so furious. There was no one else who had as much control over Naruto's emotions as the dark-haired nuke-nin did, nor would the jinchuuriki let anyone else have it.

The fox crossed the cliff's threshold much sooner than he expected to, but he secretly suspected his musing and anticipation to be near Sasuke again had blocked out most of the journey. Silence met sensitive ears when he reached the cavern, barring the faint padding of his feet against the compacted earth. For a moment Naruto panicked that the other boy was lifeless until he limped close enough to perceive the shallow rise and fall of chest.

The blonde chuunin would have scowled had he the facial features to while briefly overcome with self-irritation as it hadn't occurred to his brain that Sasuke would have new habits along with new abilities. He did wonder, as he sneaked back under the Uchiha's arm, whether it was ingrained in the pale shinobi's muscle memory to appear sleeping lightly despite exhaustion. Within such close proximity Naruto was able to notice just how low Sasuke seemed to be on chakra, like the boy was training himself to death which the chuunin figured was probably close to the truth if he knew the Uchiha.

The elbow of the arm tucked by the human's head was angled conveniently enough so the blonde could lay his head on it. The lean muscle was unexpectedly soft and Naruto inched up to lay back flush against the 'v' made by torso and arm. Sasuke stirred in his slumber but did not do more than tighten his hold over the medium-sized animal into a light yet secure embrace. The kitsune mentally chuckled at the thought that the icy bastard Sasuke was a potential intimate cuddler before returning to sleep.

**. . . T B C . . .**

_And that's how Uchiha-sama and Sasu-kun came to be. Comments?_

_Oh and I have uploaded a few oneshots since this was last updated and I'd really appreciate if you checked them out and comment. XD Thanks.  
- Sasuke's a grape (Naruto, Sasuke)  
- Quarter to midnight (SasuNaru, SasuHina NaruHina)  
- Dark Paths (Sasuke)  
- Hope, be my dusk (Harry Potter fandom, slash HPDM)_


	10. Water, Water, Pounce

**Disclaimer**: See chapter 1.

**A/N**: I apologise once again. I feel like a poor author for taking this long to update. Enjoy :D

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**Chapter 10 ( Water, Water, Pounce )**

The youngest Uchiha woke from one of the better slumbers he had had in ages, including while on these solo training escapades. His eyelids remained shut as his thoughts slowly caught up with his consciousness. The sleep had not left him lethargic as the usual deepness of exhaustion would have, but it had been free of bloody flashbacks and night terrors. His muscles had chosen to stay lax, limbs heavy, seeming to be trying to hold onto oblivion a little longer before day and responsibility beckoned with dawn lightened fingers.

The darkness - an environment he had long since become accustomed to in the underground mazes of Orochimaru's hideouts - was not absolute when he deigned to uncover those deep grey irises, the faint outline of objects decorating his vision. Sasuke inhaled deeply and took in the scents permeating the small cavern. The meat-tinged smoke, the lingering of beeswax and sweat were familiar while the musk of mammal was not. Damp earth on an errant draft let the shinobi know the weather had turned once again in the night.

His arm flexed where it was wrapped around the breathing pillow heating the length of his torso. The teen stretched from the stationary position he'd slept in, mindful of the way the fox was trying to burrow closer to the leaving warmth.

Sasuke ran through a quick mental appraisal for what today's activities could include. Training was a must to continue since that was the reason he was out here in the first place. Besides, if he stopped doing things of his own interest to care solely for an injured animal Naruto, no matter how oblivious he could be at times, would become suspicious. Speaking of which, he'd need to check the bandages sometime before noon.

But a bath was this morning's top priority. Sasuke wanted to be clean after days of exercise and it wouldn't hurt to drag the fox-disguised boy along. The little eight-year-old inside him speculated on all the different and fun ways to get Naruto into the river with much glee. The neutral personality of the stoic shinobi began to doubt whether Sasu-kun was as innocent as he was supposed to be when he caught flashes of him pulling Naruto into the water to the fox being dumped off the bank. He fished into Sasu-kun's aura and sensed wickedness standing over the child's shoulder. Sasuke rolled his eyes as Uchiha-sama attempted to influence Sasu-kun for the worse.

Uchiha-sama could be called the epitome of Sasuke's aloofness. The entity was rarely unchained to be in full control of their body so Uchiha-sama retaliated whenever possible. In most aspects Uchiha-sama could be compared to the tailed beasts sealed inside of the jinchuuriki, dangerous only when allowed out.

Sasuke brushed off the events occurring in his head and gathered everything he needed. A spare pair of boxers, loose pants and his towel went into one of the smaller bags he owned. Naruto remained undisturbed in his curled position on the human's thin blanket while he moved about. The slate-eyed teen approached the sleeping fox, crouched by his head and ran a single finger down the length of Naruto's furry spine with medium pressure. A black dipped paw twitched. Sasuke snorted at the extent of the other's reaction as amusement quirked the corner of his lips. It was time to wake the deceiving little animal.

Quickly but deftly the Uchiha swept the injured shinobi into his arms and settled him in a firm hold. Naruto let out a whining squeak at being woken so abruptly. Sasu-kun was aglow with glee and anticipation of playing with the kitsune after they took their bath.

The pair journeyed the distance to the nearby stream without fuss, the dark-haired boy able to listen contentedly to the snatches of song by early rising birds. On his initial exploration of the area, Sasuke had discovered the choice spot for bathing a little ways downstream where several boulders jutted into the river slowing the current into a natural rock pool.

It was pure serenity beneath the emerald canopy, the foliage dimming the consistent grey light heralding dawn. The birds had faded into the background against the lazy shushing of the rippling currents.

The Uchiha crouched next to one of the flatter rocks on the bank and let Naruto down from his embrace before dropping his belongings to the ground. Swift and practiced hands unwound the numerous bandages snaking around his forearms and calves, placing them in his bag before roughly folding his clothing into a pile after each piece was stripped from his grimy body. Sasuke was completely indifferent to whether or not the fox watched his naked form as he leisurely waded deeper into the lukewarm waters. He lingered near the wall as the soles of his feet scraped over first rounded pebbles then the band of fine sand he was searching for. Slipping smoothly under the surface Sasuke scooped a handful and used it to scrub the dirt and sweat from his pale skin. Washing this way had become habitual over the years, allowing the teen's thoughts to wander elsewhere while his body was in methodical automation.

Sasuke surreptitiously observed the lazing fox still on dry land from the corner of his eye. Naruto had adopted to lie facing the water and his eyes were alert while watching the pale boy bathing. The Uchiha wondered briefly whether the blonde expected him to just run off again. It was a strange thought since Sasuke had chosen by his own freewill to care for the animal to just abandon it in mid-healing, but then again the boy rarely understood how Naruto's stubborn mind worked.

Dismissing those thoughts the nuke-nin turned to another matter, though it still concerned the other young shinobi. Sasuke predicted Naruto would assume the older boy would simply return the kitsune to the cave for the day as he trained alone in the forest. The pale Uchiha smirked. It was thanks to Sasu-kun and the child's want to include the fox that Sasuke had had this idea. Today's session of training was going to get a whole lot more interesting with what he had planned. Many of the elder Uchiha would have greatly disapproved but damn, Sasuke was going to have fun.

*

Naruto grumbled mentally while he waited on the mossy bank of the river as his ex-team mate bathed. Honestly he was still miffed at Sasuke for the sudden wakening this morning. The antidote must have contained a slow sedative because the chuunin had been extremely groggy on consciousness. It had only lasted a small period as the blonde was coherent by the time Sasuke had waded out into the middle of the natural pool.

Since then he'd been closely watching the bastard, detecting some of the changes time away from Konoha had wrought in the Uchiha. Practiced hands flowed in a familiar rhythm like Sasuke was well used to washing in a rushing river. If Naruto took a guess he'd say the dark haired boy spent a hell of a lot of time out here, never mind how the cavern they were currently residing felt very lived in.

Just then the subject of his thoughts half turned in the water, so Naruto could see the smoothness of the other's left flank. If foxes could flush Naruto bet his cheeks would've been a healthy reddish colour, as it was heat infused his skin under the speckled pelt in a very good imitation.

Maybe it was the fever talking - Naruto swore madly he had a fever from the wound - but Sasuke looked incredibly attractive right then. That blue-black hair glistened in the pre-dawn as the Uchiha moved, still slicked against his neck from when he had resurfaced. A deceptively delicate hand reached up and brushed away the strands plastered against his high cheekbones. Naruto watched in fascination as the drenched hair sent little rivulets of clear liquid coursing down the well-defined back and chest. Lightly toned muscles flexed under pale skin as Naruto's eyes travelled along the other's long arms.

The blonde sighted the black ink marring the left forearm, startling from his distracted reverie of Sasuke. The ever present bandages had hidden the contract seal used to summon the snake clan from casual scrutiny. It was a subtle yet cruel reminder there were new facts about his friend that Naruto did not know, compounded by all the things he'd been ignorant of before Sasuke even left.

Naruto's attention was recaptured when the older shinobi dived under to rinse and reappeared mere metres from the bank's edge, facing away from him. Sasuke seemed to glow in the soft light of daybreak, which frustrated the disguised fox even more by renewing his damnable blush. Too bad the chuunin wasn't in his own form or else he'd have started an argument and distracted the bastard from being appealing, or at least himself from being aware. But wait, vulpine body or no, he still had movement. Something akin to a grin displayed a hint of fang and mischief flashed in those navy eyes.

Hoping he wouldn't strain his injury any further, Naruto eased to his feet and crept closer to the river's edge. Most of his weight shifted to his hind legs before the fox used all of the strength of his weakened body to pounce on the unsuspecting Uchiha's back. Naruto had just enough time during the act of freefall to begin thinking this might not be such a good idea after all. He proceeded to crash unceremoniously into firm flesh and then lukewarm water was swirling over his head. Momentary panic set in before strong arms wrapped around the small body and pulled him above the pool surface to be cradle against a pale chest.

The fox recovered his breath while Sasuke made his way back to shore and dragged them both onto dry land. He remained in a limp heap once he was placed gently on the ground. The older boy then dried off and dressed quickly. The towel was draped over him as Sasuke carefully lifted the blonde to rub down the soaked fur. Heavenly hands massaged the tense muscles running down the line of his spine in constant strokes. Naruto pressed his forehead into the clothed breastbone on the return journey, comfortable where he was despite the sodden towel cooling against his skin.

All too soon he was being put down once again, this time on the floor of the Uchiha's home-away-from-hideout. The fox cocked his triangular head to the side as Sasuke gathered cooking equipment, a med-kit and a small pack then settled cross-legged between him and the cold ashes in the ring of stones.

A tripod and pot were set over relit kindling, a jar of pastel green liquid left to sit in the warming water. While they waited Sasuke unravelled the damp bandage from his mussed fur and removed the dressing covering the affected area. The kitsune winced as probing fingers examined the edges of the gash. Naruto watched the human shinobi's actions with curiosity, since he had never really had an active interest in healing because the Kyuubi had always taken care of any major damage. Not even when he suppressed the demon's abilities and had Sakura as a close friend did he bother with anything beyond basic first aid.

The nuke-nin had produced a small whisk from somewhere and was currently frothing the mysterious liquid once it was removed from the pot. Naruto felt slightly queasy looking at the stuff and hoped against hope that Sasuke wasn't going to make him drink it. To the blonde's relief his carer just threw several lengths of cloth in to soak. The Uchiha reused a dirty dressing with the warmed water to thoroughly clean the wound before completely covering it with the other strips of solution-tainted material.

Every touch of those dexterous digits was a welcome sensation in the blonde's drowsiness. Naruto was too sore to be anything but placid in Sasuke's warm hands, never mind the way they melted his body into contentment. He barely noticed when Sasuke finished wrapping another beige bandage in place over the poultice and then stroked over the fox's head and ears in reward for good behaviour.

The boy transferred to a more comfortable seat on his blankets from the cold dirt and uncovered some of the cooked meat he had stored in a pack the previous night. Sasuke alternated between breaking his own morning fast and offering small strips to the disguised chuunin. Naruto was happy to be finger-fed, his rough tongue surreptitiously licking the other's fingers clean of juices after each piece.

If foxes could smile Naruto would have had a huge grin coupled with a semi-dazed expression since it was not like Uchiha Sasuke, the Avenger Prince, waited hand and foot on anyone or anything.

**. . . T B C . . .**

_And this entire fic was spawned from the idea of the bathing scene. It really wasn't supposed to take this long to get here nor be as angsty. Ah well I hope to guys enjoyed the fluff. Don't forget to review!  
_


	11. An Unexpected Partnership

**Disclaimer**: See chapter 1.

**A/N**: First of all, thank you to everyone still reading this story. It means a lot after leaving my readers hanging for so long. I apologise this chapter is the shortest so far but I didn't want to let an update go for any longer. It's been 3 years already. O.O

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to EnnaRose, a fan of the story, whom I met in person at Supanova. Hearing how much she liked HB reminded me I should get my butt into gear and finish for the sake of the story as well as myself as an author and for my readers. I managed to start writing again during the convention.

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**Chapter 11 ( An Unexpected Partnership )**

It was still early morning by the time the pair exited the cave once again. Sasuke ambled along through the lush undergrowth at pace with the fox's sluggish speed. The affected skin pulled slightly on every other step the disguised blonde took, irritating him no end. Naruto wasn't pleased with the youngest Uchiha at all, he couldn't fathom why Sasuke was forcing him to accompany him out, and that he had to walk, of all things. Being a poor injured animal should have been enough to be unconditionally pampered, never mind the fact he quite liked being carried to and fro around the forest cradled in those lithe arms.

This led to the chuunin's current line of thought that Sasuke was a bastard with sadistic tendencies. Yet beneath the initial resistance, Naruto was relieved to have the excuse to be able to have the nuke-nin within sight at all times.

Still wondering why he had been forced along, the blonde assumed the other shinobi was going to train surrounded by the lush vegetation. The Uchiha had brought a few bags with him, and the trickle of chakra curled around Sasuke's arms was enough evidence to know they were significantly heavier than they looked.

They emerged into a partially enclosed grove, a vapid mess of vines hanging off low lying branches, hiding further foliage. Sasuke dropped his cargo on the thick moss between the raised roots of one of the larger trees encircling the area. Naruto, careful of his side, flopped next to them and contentedly watched on as the pale teen hunkered down to pull out training gear from the beige canvas packs.

The chuunin was genuinely intrigued by the equipment Sasuke was handling, things he knew the name and purpose of but had never used. His own training had been overseen and dictated by the whims of an eccentric womaniser, an entirely frustrating path to follow. Despite knowing Lee walked around every day with heavy weights on his legs, Naruto hadn't given thought to incorporate the method into his own exercises. The Uchiha retrieved several belts about ten centimetres in width, laying them out neatly.

Suddenly Sasuke stripped off the baggy trousers he had donned.

The blonde would belatedly wonder whether it was possible to die of shock while simultaneously bursting into laughter. Embarrassment was running rampant for Naruto today. Although this time he couldn't distinguish whether it was for being unable to stop staring at the other's lean, long legs or actually seeing the day when Sasuke wore spandex. Admittedly there was little difference (besides the material) to the shorts he used to wear as a genin but combined with the tight shirt, the black ensemble would have had the old Sasuke adorers back in Konoha fainting with ecstasy from the sleek appearance.

The reason for such clothing soon became clear when the dark-haired shinobi began the painstakingly slow process of properly wrapping each of his limbs in wide, white bandages. The swiftness and unerring dexterity of his movements showed just how often Sasuke trained with weights and he was finished in a quarter of the time Naruto would have taken. His black-tipped ears perked when the human began securely buckling the belts in place, appeasing thoughts on how the Uchiha was going to train. Naruto assumed it was a strengthening exercise as a chest and waist harness enclosed his torso while sets of three belts graced each limb.

Naruto couldn't tell the sizes for sure, all he knew was the standard weight block used by Konoha shinobi for training was half a kilogram. Curious, the disguised chuunin sat up and nudged under one of the spare belts still on the ground with his nose. The act was not effective. In fact, the belt didn't even slide a millimetre out of place. Sasuke turned from tucking the last strap on his left wrist to notice the red fox's interest. He ran a hand over Naruto's head and into a full body stroke that sent a warm shiver down the animal's spine. The dark-haired boy carefully shifted onto his knees and forwent the use of chakra to stand, which left it difficult to manoeuvre with the extra kilograms.

Once vertical, he issued a warning to the animal. "You don't want to carry one."

The blonde huffed, wishing he could pout and act like the child he had been whenever in Sasuke's presence when they were fresh out of the academy. He looked at the leather straps then at the pale boy and back again, contemplation clearly seen in his bright eyes. Just to spite his ex-team-mate, Naruto snared the edge of a belt between his sharpest fangs, shoved all of his small mass onto his hind legs, and gave a significant pull. The inevitable brashness resulted in the fox's teeth scraping off the leather and flinging Naruto back to land heavily on his rump. The fall aggravated his still-healing injury and caused the disguised chuunin to whimper at the jolt of pain.

A low, throaty chuckle floated from where Sasuke had taken position in the centre of the glade. He glared waspishly at the Uchiha as annoyance streaked through Naruto for a moment. How could the bastard laugh at his misfortune and suffering. Despite the fact he was the one who had disregarded Sasuke's warning, the unusual occurrence of the other boy's unguarded laughter calmed Naruto down faster than he could yell 'Hokage'. Instead, the orange-furred animal drank in the site of the amused expression wavering across the dark-haired shinobi's face.

"I did warn you not to." He held up a pale digit to punctuate his point. "I use one kilogram blocks."

Armed with this new information, Naruto tallied the kilograms surrounding Sasuke's limbs. He was quickly overtaken by shock as the total rose beyond expectations, at least for a ninjutsu-based shinobi Sasuke used to be classified as. By rough estimate the ex-leaf-nin was sporting around twelve kilos on each leg, the arms about nine each and the entire torso toted at least fifteen more.

While Naruto recovered, blue tendrils of chakra began leaking from each tenketsu, spreading to encase Sasuke's lithe frame like a second skin. It was barely discernible to the chuunin's sight, but the level of ability was as impressive as the Hyuuga clan cultivated for Hakkeshou Kaiten. The effectiveness of the energy in lessening the burden of weight was quite obvious, even a civilian ignorant of the ways of chakra would have noticed the extra support. The pale boy stood taller as his spine straightened from the prominent hunch and the tension in the stressed muscles lessened.

Sharp eyes followed every move as the shinobi eased into a transitional kata, the lacing of the supplementary chakra expounding the fluidity of Sasuke's normal grace. In fact the visuals of the slow martial dance was soothing to the kitsune, the same way calmness Sasuke using his entire hand to stroke along his back invoked.

Naruto was dozing quite unguardedly for he practically jumped when a hand rested on his shoulder. The fox craned his head to look at the other quizzically and his cheeks heated once more. The Uchiha had stripped every belt except for both wrist and ankle weights and was re-wearing his loose three-quarter shinobi pants. He was also sans black shirt, which Naruto spied discarded by the canvas bags totally soaked through. Sweat glistened in the stray sunbeams that streaked over pale toned flesh and slicked those dark bangs to smooth skin.

Sasuke seemed to understand the unspoken communication. Slate coloured eyes softened a little and the corner of his lips twitched.

"Healing you is interrupting my valued solitude. In spite of this, I'm starting to like you. I don't involve myself with others unless there is something they can give in return. You are no exception Kitsune-san." Sasuke tapped a single long digit against the wet, black nose, making Naruto blink. "Any other time I would leave you to the mercy of this less than hospital country as soon as the toxin completes its' course through your system. But luckily for you, I have a solution that will benefit both of us and will keep me around while you recover."

If a fox's face structure allowed such expression, Naruto's mouth would have been agape with incredulous shock paralysing all movement. Not only was Sasuke talking to something that for all intentions and purposes couldn't understand him, he had proposed equivalent trade as if the youngest Uchiha dealt with wild animals like shinobi every day. Were the disguised blonde anyone else he would have started to doubt the pale shinobi's sanity. Three years under Orochimaru's tutelage surely wasn't good for one's mental health, no matter what amount of things the snake sannin promised.

Naruto was jerked back to realty when the other boy scooped the orange animal into his arms once again, and returned to where he had been previously exercising. The dampness of the Uchiha's skin chafed uncomfortably against his dry pelt. Since the chuunin was facing outwards he missed the half-grin and mischievous eyes gracing Sasuke's features. Surprisingly, they knelt on the forest floor and the human held the fox on his hind legs with a solid grip around the ribs. He must have leant close because his warm breath ruffled the fur on Naruto's ruff, tickling the skin underneath.

"Trust me."

The statement didn't have a chance to be processed by the blonde before a rush of adrenaline shot through his system as Sasuke abruptly moved him and shifted pose. When the earth was still again it took several moments for the resulting dizziness to fade and for Naruto to comprehend exactly what had happened. The fox was now perched in the middle of the shinobi's naked back, front paws pressing gently into the muscles below the shoulder blades. He mentally cursed the Uchiha as his heart rate stuttered back to a normal pace. What the hell was his ex-team mate thinking by manhandling him, and while he was ranting, how in Hokage's name was Sasuke going to extract repayment from a wild animal?

Naruto stared at the exposed neck of the boy beneath him, whom was presently being used as a seat. Sasuke was lying front down in the dirt and bearing all of his weight on his forearms, elbows tucked into his sides. Sasuke straightened his arms, body rigid, and chest lifting from the ground as he rose onto his toes.

"Hang on" was all the warning Naruto received before the shinobi began a repetition of push ups.

The fox immediately laid down to distribute his weight more evenly over the pale back, paws alternatively anchoring into the shifting muscle in compensation despite the sheen of perspiration. For a couple of horrifying minutes Naruto was certain he'd topple off. In no way did he want to land on the hard-packed earth. The spongy wild grass covering the entire area wouldn't be enough to avoid the certainty of his bones jarring on impact. The thought made him mentally wince and he hoped his trust in Sasuke was not misplaced.

Once the anxiety over falling faded, the steady motion was lulling and Naruto unconsciously relaxed into the slow rocking. Lids slid shut over navy irises and the orange furred animal fell into another slumber.

**. . . T B C . . .**

_Hakkeshou Kaiten - Eight Divination Palms of the Hand, Heavenly Spin (Neji's rotation taijutsu)_

**A/N**: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to comment! I can't stress enough how reviews help keep up my drive to write. More reviews = more paragraphs = another update. I'll happily answer any questions you have. ^_^


	12. The Other Side

**Disclaimer**: See chapter 1.

**A/N**: Well I'm still wide awake at 2am on this new year monrning, so I thought to give all my readers an extra special present to kick off 2010.

**Warning**: Random cannon tidbits beyond manga chapter 354.

* * *

**Chapter 12 ( ****The Other Side ****)**

Naruto clambered from unconsciousness a little disorientated but feeling very comfortable in a mass of soft material. For a moment the chuunin swore he was supposed to be astride a firm back, being as useful as a large sack of rice. He pawed feebly at the cocoon surrounding him in an attempt to snuggle deeper into the fragrance of fresh river water, the lingering of natural cleaning oil, and Sasuke's unmistakable personal scent.

A particularly loud crackling-pop of a fire startled Naruto into true wakefulness, lids flaring open and twisting towards the noise. His wildly beating organ calmed when he spotted the dark shinobi sitting quite close and cross-legged on the other half of the pulled bedding. Sasuke modelled a pretty picture of tranquillity with the way the fingers of flame light chased shadows across the still features and bronzed the backdrop of pale skin. The transformed chuunin used his enhanced eyes to perceive the closed eyelids through the ruby tinted shadows and dark fringe concealing the upper half of the other's face.

Sasuke stretched out a hand from its' resting place on his bent knee and unerringly found the kitsune by his side, curled in the centre of the twisted blankets. In what was fast becoming Naruto's favourite habit, the Uchiha dragged slender fingers through his pelt, caressing the skin he touched underneath. The red fox arched into the petting, the cosy atmosphere rolling contentment through him in waves. It was a new occurrence for Naruto, one that was startlingly something he wanted more of, and to share with Sasuke, it was certain to be one of the most unique experiences in his life.

"You remind me of someone I knew in childhood. A nin-cat."

The voice was so low and distant coming from the darkness. For a moment the blond was unsure he had actually heard it to begin with. His doubts vanished when the other spoke again, and with noticeable affection.

"Whenever I visited, she was always watching me," a longer pause allowed each half to stand alone, "as if I would, suddenly disappear."

Naruto lay quietly and patiently for the older teen to continue his story. The chuunin's curiosity was piqued after hearing of other nin-familiars. After all, the Inuzaka clan were the only family he knew intimately of who trained animals as shinobi partners. It was satisfying to discover another facet of Sasuke's past, and possibly a hidden one of the Uchiha clan.

A few minutes trickled pass until it was obvious Sasuke had revealed all he wanted to say. The silence once again encased the pair in comfort and a sense of security.

It was contradictory to his nature to laze around without benefit to his shinobi training but recovery from the poisoned slash should be his top priority before anything else. The wound itched and occasionally twinged with pain, it was healing slowly even with the gradual return of Naruto's higher regeneration rate from the Kyuubi. The disguised blond kicked over onto his stomach, settling his triangular head over a ridge of the bunched bedding to watch Sasuke further.

An aura of thoughtfulness had settled over the pale Uchiha. It seemed whatever was on the teen's mind had been troubling him for some time, quite possibly the length Naruto had been asleep. With a tiny shake of the head, Sasuke picked up a scroll from the three located in front of him and ignored the presence of the staring fox. Naruto huffed, stomach rubbing irksomely against the clean bandage. He disliked being pointedly ignored and wished once again that he could be rid of this restrictive henge, despite the potential risk on detection.

A crease formed on Sasuke's brow, marring the concentration etched across his face, rather than defining it. The scowl deepened until it was obvious the brunet was no longer focused on the scroll. Naruto blinked twice. Here was a familiar mood he once knew on the brooding shinobi. This was an occurrence he could react to in confidence but apprehension blurred the edges with concern.

Careful not to get tangled in the sheet, the fox slowly crawled closer to the dark haired boy, afraid to watch him descend into a colder depression. He wanted to do something, anything to save Sasuke from experiencing a crueller solitude than he already was, even one self-imposed. If the chuunin had been in human form he had absolutely no idea what he could do to halt the downward spiralling and so his thoughts churned endlessly. The tiny, agitated gestures of the orange creature remained seemingly unnoticed by the brooding Uchiha.

Naruto had always attributed the other's reticent attitude to Sasuke thinking too much and too long on the wrong subjects. He was silent, outwardly unemotional and kept everything to himself. The corner of a blue eye twitched as the orange fox had a thought similar to an epiphany, since Naruto's unique brain was slower to connect such blatant facts. If that boy only dwelled on getting power to defeat Itachi then Naruto would get him to stop thinking all together. Well, at least change the subject of his attention for a period.

Every ounce of mischievousness in his current diminutive body rushed to the forefront of his mind. The impulse to shock the other boy accompanied the shot of eager anticipation that raced through his nervous system. He surged from his sprawled spot to drag a coarse tongue up the inside of Sasuke's arm, wrist to elbow. The pale skin wasn't as smooth as it looked. He could feel the subtle patterning of thin lines and raised dots Naruto knew were the lasting souvenirs of the Uchiha's first battle with the nuke-nin Haku. The shinobi's taste was just as unique as his personal aroma. A mild charred bitterness lingered behind the metallic tang of the dried sweat coating the muscled flesh. Despite a familiarity with a broad range of flavours, Naruto couldn't name a combination that would suit the young heir better.

When the blonde's mind finally caught up with his eccentric behaviour, his sleek head reeled back and stared into the other's face. Sasuke had instantly jerked towards the unruly fox. Only those obsidian eyes had changed in the stony expression, the faint surprise he could see bleeding into hesitant confusion. Deciding to examine his own feelings later, Naruto let out the animal equivalent of a sigh and let his thoughts drift.

The bedroll was still quite soft outside the piled blankets. He let out a wide yawn as he stretched full body before curling the supine body close enough to the dark-haired boy's legs so he could settle his head in the crux of his lap. His closed eyes missed the delayed reaction and although he could feel the change in tension in his ex-teammate's frame, he was too comfortable and lazy to move any muscles to investigate something possibly amusing. A little corner of Naruto's mind demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing; Sasuke was a traitor and an all round cold bastard, he should be at minimum detested and shoved away. Yet the blonde would not - could not - detest his oldest rival, no matter how much his brain told him he should.

Warm, comfortable and uncaring in contentment Naruto let slumber pull him under once again.

*

Sasuke gently petted the red fox by his side, the tactile gesture the only thing grounding his thoughts to reality. He didn't often brood while on his solo training excursions, not permitting himself any time to do so while he threw his whole mind and body into developing and refining all aspects of his abilities. It was when the silence refused to be ignored in between the marked training where his body begged Sasuke for much needed rest to avoid both physical and chakra exhaustion.

He remembered all the side-looks and hard glances that Naruto threw in his direction whenever the disguised blonde thought Sasuke wouldn't notice. To one whose genetics had adapted observational instincts to maximise their kakkei genkai, the quirk was simple to interpret. The frequent visual reassurance in the context of now, would suggest paranoia of another Uchiha disappearance.

The fear, founded as it was, echoed the memory of someone buried deep within Sasu-kun's emotional jurisdiction. It was little known that his childhood had not been confined to the limits of Konoha, unlike some of the village's other clans. The Uchiha had secreted a weapons cache to the care of the Elder cat and her clan in a small town to the north within the borders of Fire Country. In the days before the massacre, the town had been a bustling hive of trade activity and a hub of information if a shinobi knew how to ask.

During his first visit to meet the head of the feline-inclined clan, a couple of the youngest neko-nin had taken a liking to Fugaku's second son. Although, an older female trailed and watched Sasuke from a distance every time he entered the underground base. At the time his child's brain dismissed the behaviour as normal for the stoic, older generation cats. In retrospect it would have compared to a vigilant mother over a wayward kit. He'd not been to the cache since before the massacre, and would not return until he intended to commence the next stage of his calculated plans, the foundations of which were laid when he came to study under the wretched sannin.

Words spilled from his lips without prior consent, light whispers dying bare moments after their utterance. Fondness of the memories of the shinobi cat clan - especially the mother - tinged his inflection but he didn't suppress the show of emotion. Only Naruto would ever know of this moment, however short it lasted. He finished suddenly, forgoing any elaboration into his conflicted past in the usual private Sasuke way. The abrupt silence seemed awkward to him but the kitsune remained unmoved and what tension the older teen could feel dissipated.

The entire period of brooding he'd absently advanced into carding slender fingers through the coarse pelt. He was silently amused, Naruto whimpered when his hand stopped the rhythmic ministrations but he was certain his ex-teammate could entertain himself for the rest of the night. Sasuke wiped his expression clean and pretended to be oblivious of the disguised blonde.

With a flick of his head to dismiss his previous thoughts and melancholy, Sasuke turned towards trying to study the skill preparation he had planned for tonight. The three scrolls stacked before him contained the meticulous research about chakra shape manipulation by an Uchiha ancestor several generations removed. The nuke-nin plucked the scroll he had been reading previously from the pile, the only indication was the loosely tied ribbon which kept it from unravelling. Since the dark-haired shinobi had already mastered elemental manipulation of both fire and lightning, Sasuke sought to refine his ninjutsu and expand his repertoire by creating personal jutsu. These documents were liberated from a secret library in one of the clan buildings the Uchiha abandoned when they made the uneasy alliance with the Senjuu and established Kohonagakure.

Although his near-photographic memory managed to absorb the ancient words and discoveries spilling off the paper, Sasuke could not concentrate exclusively on his study. The abnormal disquiet of his thoughts was filling the temporary absence of the two polar entities. Sasuke's mind was his own at the moment and on some tacit level it was a relief.

Uchiha-sama had retreated from the forefront of their consciousness to the solitude of his chamber once the nuke-nin finished with his training for the day. He had sneered at the laxness of Naruto's sleeping form draped over their back. Just pandering to the fox was the testing the threshold of Uchiha-sama's almost non-existent tolerance in all things compassionate.

The irritated aura pouring off the entity's frame caused Sasu-kun to pull a face to ridicule the attitude. The child then sniggered quietly when the obsidian dragon fusuma slammed shut in the wake of Uchiha-sama, the scarlet of the flames had shimmered to the personality's animosity. The lull from Uchiha-sama's domineering attitude also influenced the innocent to leave the shinobi to himself. The instilled nature of the third entity disliked the forced solidarity so Sasu-kun pronounced he would be back within the hour to pester the teen with his playful aura.

The Uchiha heir was wrenched from his brooding when a wet appendage rasped across the skin on his right arm. He snapped around to stare at the orange creature lounging beside him, those deep sapphire eyes scrutinising every expression with intensity. The incredulousness of the event filtered beyond the fusuma with enough force that the playful cubs' screen inched open enough for a pair of curious eyes to glimpse what the dominant was seeing.

How the furball got so close without him noticing his movements was beyond comprehension through the shock. Although, the pressing question was what the hell made Naruto decide licking him was smart or even remotely appreciated by the impersonal front Sasuke had been sporting since he decided to become an avenger.

Sasuke was distracted by a prickling sensation blooming across his sensitive flesh, becoming more irritated by the second as it begged to be scratched. The Uchiha glanced down to see a rosy stain marring the creamy area where the filmy salvia dried in the flame-induced heat. His eyes flicked back when the red fox exhaled noisily before it quickly determined that Sasuke's lap was an incredibly comfy pillow.

Small creases appeared at the corners of the brunette's mouth and eyes as he frowned at the motionless animal. Sasu-kun was quietly thrilled hiding behind the fusuma, grinning at the unexpected turn of events. The cuddling gesture was endearing in its animal way, however Sasuke could only envision Naruto's blonde head resting on his thigh instead. The image brought warmth to the pale cheeks, not so anyone looking on would notice but it was enough that the stoic teenager was still embarrassed. It was of no consequence as Naruto had resumed sleeping if the even inflation of the fox's chest was any indication.

Sasuke inhaled deeply, transforming the breath into a quiet sigh. If nothing else, Uzumaki Naruto would be the death of him.

**. . . T B C . . .**

**A/N**: Heads up for the lovers of HB, there is only a few chapters left. Remember to return the love, and fave/comment/rec etc.


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